LIBRARY 

UNIVERSITY  OR 

CALIFORNIA 

SAN  DIEGO 


WMJEm 


presented  to  the 
UNIVERSITY  LIBRARY 
UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA 
SAN  DIEGO 

by 


Mr.    Armistead  B.    Carter 


I 


A 


Digitized  by  the  Internet  Archive 

in  2007  with  funding  from 

Microsoft  Corporation 


http://www.archive.org/details/enlairinairthreeOOhalliala 


"En  Vair! 

(IN  THE  AIR) 


>> 


BERT    HALL 


re 


Szt   £'CU4*!' 


(IN    THE   AIR) 

Three  Years  on  and  above  Three  Fronts 


BY 

Lieut.   BERT   HALL 

An   American   of  the  French 
Flying  Corps 


Fully  Illustrated 


THE    NEW   LIBRARY,  Inc. 

542  FIFTH  AVENUE 

NEW   YORK,  N.  Y. 


Copyright,  1918,  by 

THE  NEW  LIBRARY,  Inc. 

New  York,  N.  Y. 


Dedicated  to 
MY   COMRADES 

Who  are  still  There,  who  have  made 

the  supreme  sacrifice  for  humanity, 

and  to 

Mr.  and  Mrs. 

LAWRENCE    SLADE, 

Who  have  been  Father  and  Mother 

to  us  all — may  they  live  forever ! 


CONTENTS 


Publisher's  Note 

CHAPTER  PAGE 

I    The  Foreign  Legion    ....  3 

II    At   the    Front 13 

III  In  the  Trenches 28 

IV  Training  in  the  Aviation  Corps  38 
V    The  Lafayette  Escadrille    .     .  46 

VI     Flying  and  Fighting  in  Cham- 
pagne      56 

VII     Fighting  the  Boche  at  Verdun  64 
VIII    The    Best    of    Sport — an    Air 

Sortie 76 

IX    Air  Combats  Along  the  Somme 

Fronts 90 

X    My  Methods  of  Attack    ...  98 

XI     Submarined  En  Route  to  Russia  108 
XII    Trying  to  Help  Russia  and  Rou- 

mania 115 

XIII  Bombing  the  Kaiser  at  Sofia    .  125 

XIV  The  Revolution  as  I  Saw  It    .  134 
XV    My    Pals      ........  142 


LIST  OF  ILLUSTRATIONS 

Bert  Hall Frontispiece 

Facing  Page 

William  Thaw 8 

A  beautiful  sea  of  clouds 14 

Bert  Hall  returning  from  patrol 18 

French  observation  machine,  convoyed  by  a  Nieuport  24 

German  Fokker  flying  over  French  territory  ....  30 

Same  German  as  in  preceding  picture 34 

Nieuport  assisted  by  a  Farman  attacking  a  German   .  40 

First  American  Escadrille  in  France 46 

Kiffen  Rockwell 50 

Victor  Chapman 56 

Trenches  from  15,000  feet  altitude,  east  of  Rheims  .     .  58 

Results  of  night  flying 62 

Looking  north  at  Verdun 66 

German  aeroplane  brought  down  near  Verdun  ...  72 

Our  Aviation  Field  at  Verdun 76 

Bert  Hall  and  his  Nieuport 80 

German  machine  falling  in  flames  near  Verdun  ...  86 


LIST  OF  ILLUSTRATIONS 

Facing  Page 

German  machine  attacking  observation  balloon    .     .  90 

Balloon  falling  in  flames 90 

German  Fokker  brought  down  in  our  lines  undamaged  94 

Remains  of  German  machine  brought  down  near  Belfort  96 

Nieuport  fighting  machine,  with  gun 98 

Hanging  over  big  cloud  banks 102 

A  Nieuport  protecting  an  artillery-directing  machine    .  108 

Our  home  on  the  Russian  front.    Aeroplane  box  used 

for  house 112 

Masson  and  Bert  Hall 112 

Crowds  in  street  during  Revolution,  Petrograd  .     .     .  120 

Street  Fighting  in  Petrograd  during  the  Revolution     .  128 

Funeral  procession  going  to  the  Champ  Mars,  Petrograd  134 

Burying  the  dead  after  the  Revolution 140 

Group,  taken  day  of  Norman  Prince's  funeral  .    .    .  144 

Same  group  in  flying  clothes 150 


PUBLISHER'S  NOTE 

This  book  is  the  amazing  story,  told  in  his 
own  words,  of  an  American  who  fought  in 
the  French  Army  from  the  second  day  after 
war  was  declared  in  1914  until  the  present 
time.  His  service  included  also  special  duty 
on  the  Russian  Front.  The  following  cita- 
tion, in  the  Order  of  the  Day  for  the  entire 
army,  gives  a  glimpse  of  his  remarkable  ex- 
ploits : 

General  Headquarters,  June  18th. 
Order  No.  3083D. 
The  Medaille  Militaire  is  conferred  upon 
the  following  name :  Bert  Hall,  Sergeant  of 
Escadrille  N  124.  Engaged  volunteer  for 
the  duration  of  the  war.  After  having 
served  in  the  infantry,  transferred  into  the 
aviation.  Has  become  very  rapidly  pilote  of 
the  first  class.     Very  intelligent,  energetic 


PUBLISHER'S  NOTE 

and  audacious.  Has  fulfilled  on  many  oc- 
casions on  his  demand  missions  particularly 
dangerous  and  perilous  in  rear  of  German 
lines.  The  22nd  of  May  has  attacked  and 
after  a  very  severe  combat,  destroyed,  his 
adversary  within  a  few  hundred  meters  of 
our  trenches.  This  nomination  carries  the 
Croix  de  Guerre  and  one  palm  leaf. 

J.  Joffre. 

Wounded  many  times,  twice  severely, 
Lieutenant  Hall  now  may  wear  when  he 
chooses  seven  decorations,  including  the 
Cross  of  St.  George,  awarded  by  the  Russian 
Government  only  in  cases  of  exceptional 
bravery.  This  cross,  pinned  on  the  breast 
of  Lieutenant  Hall  by  Czar  Nicholas,  was 
the  last  decoration  he  gave  before  his  down- 
fall. 

Lieutenant  Hall  was  asked  by  the  pub- 
lishers for  a  biographical  sketch,  and  sent 
this  characteristic  reply : 

"I  was  born  at  Bowling  Green,  Novem- 


PUBLISHER'S  NOTE 

ber  7th,  1880.  Have  spent  most  of  my  life 
traveling  and  in  foreign  countries.  Began 
sporting  career  by  riding  high-jumping 
horses.  Afterwards  took  up  automobile  rac- 
ing, then  flying.  Was  ten  years  in  Texas, 
six  years  in  Missouri,  and  about  six  years  in 
France  before   the   declaration   of   war   in 

1914." 

The  title,  "En  FAir,"  familiar  to  many 
American  readers,  is  the  command  given 
aviators  in  the  French  Army  to  leave  the 
ground  on  the  duty  to  which  they  have  been 
assigned. 


"En  Uair! 

(IN  THE  AIR) 


>> 


"En  VAir!" 

CHAPTER  I 

THE    FOREIGN    LEGION 

It  certainly  is  good  to  be  back  here  in 
America  again,  but  I  expect  to  return  to  the 
Western  Front  soon.    There  is  plenty  to  do, 
a  job  for  every  man  who  is  able  to  walk. 
With  me  the  great  trouble  and  bother  is  that 
my  right  arm  doesn't  work  the  way  it  used 
to,  but  it  is  getting  into  fair  shape  again. 
The  doctors  have  built  up  the  part  from  the 
shoulder  to  the  elbow  so  it  really  looks  like 
an  arm  again.     They've  patched  me  up  in 
several  other  places,  too.     They  are  won- 
ders, these  doctors,  in  the  way  they  can  make 
over  a  man,  and  in  some  cases  I  think  better 
than  he  was  originally. 

3 


4  "EN  LAIR!" 

But  even  at  that  your  body  isn't  like  your 
aeroplane.  If  the  engine  breaks,  you  just  go 
get  a  new  one  and  start  out  again.  But  with 
your  arm,  if  there's  anything  left  of  it,  you 
have  to  make  use  of  what  still  works  and  let 
it  go  at  that. 

They  may  let  me  fly  again,  and  I  certainly 
hope  they  will.  Naturally  I  prefer  the  air, 
for  that  is  where  I've  done  most  of  my  work, 
but  I've  been  in  fighting  of  all  kinds  since 
I  enlisted  in  the  Foreign  Legion  of  the 
French  Army  two  days  after  war  broke  out 
in  August,  1914  Since  my  return  to  this 
country  many  people  have  asked  me  why  I 
joined  the  French  Army,  and  my  reply  is 
that  if  a  country  is  good  enough  to  live  in  it 
is  good  enough  to  fight  for. 

I  am  just  thirty-seven,  but  still  feel  able 
to  whip  any  German  on  earth  at  any  game 
he  chooses.  Over  here,  they  tell  me  that  I'm 
too  old  for  the  United  States  service.  Over 
there,  with  the  few  of  my  comrades  who  are 
still  living,  it  is  different.  So  I  must  go  back 
to  good  old  France.    May  she  live  forever ! 


THE  FOREIGN  LEGION         5 

As  luck  would  have  it,  I  was  in  France  at 
the  beginning  of  hostilities.  I  don't  know 
how  it  was  with  others,  but  all  the  Americans 
I  knew  in  France  couldn't  be  neutral. 

We  wanted  to  fight,  and  fight  right  away. 
Practically  every  American  man  I  talked 
with  in  Paris  wished  to  enlist  and  many  of 
them  did,  as  everybody  knows.  It  was  the 
second  day  after  Germany's  declaration  of 
war  that  most  of  us,  myself  included,  got 
into  the  game.  Everything  and  everybody 
in  Paris  was  wild,  although  the  French  Army 
was  being  mobolized  in  a  very  business-like 
way.  So  at  first  we  didn't  know  where  to 
apply,  or  what  to  do. 

It  was  then  that  we  made  plans  for  organ- 
izing what  we  called  the  American  Volun- 
teer Corps.  This  movement  was  started  by 
George  Casmeze,  who  had  lived  in  France 
for  some  years.  Rene  Philezot,  Charles 
Sweeney  and  I  were  the  committee  chosen 
to  get  volunteers.  We  received  permission 
from  the  Government  to  train  in  the  grounds 
of  the  Palais  Royal.    Sweeney,  being  a  West 


6  "EN  L'AIRr 

Pointer,  was  later  one  of  our  most  valuable 
instructors.  We  got  along  very  well  and 
our  enlistments  went  on  fine.  We  had  about 
one  hundred  and  fifty,  and  they  all  seemed 
anxious  to  go  to  the  front  as  soon  as  possible. 
Our  training  went  on  for  two  weeks  or  more, 
while  the  situation  at  the  front  was  getting 
more  desperate  daily.  This  made  us  all  the 
more  eager  to  have  a  hand  in  it. 

The  day  for  our  departure  from  Paris 
came  on  August  24th.  I  regret  to  say  that 
some  of  our  gallant  heroes  suddenly  fell  ill 
or  had  business  elsewhere,  but  not  more  than 
is  the  case  in  most  volunteer  organizations 
like  ours  probably.  I  want  to  name  here  a 
few,  only  a  few,  of  the  real  Americans  who 
started  out  that  day.  I  mention  them  for 
the  reason  that  I  knew  them  and  also  be- 
cause we  were  to  fight  together,  or  in  differ- 
ent branches  of  the  service,  in  the  months 
that  followed.  I  am  proud  to  have  been 
among  them,  for  they  were  the  first  Ameri- 
cans to  join  the  French  colors.  Here  are  the 
names : 


THE  FOREIGN  LEGION         7 

Charles  Sweeney,  James  J.  Bach,  J.  W. 
Ganson,  F.  Wilson,  D.  W.  King,  William 
Thaw,  J.  J.  Casey,  J.  Stewart  Carstairs,  E. 
Towle,  Paul  Rockwell,  Kiffin  Rockwell,  F. 
W.  Zinn,  R.  Soubirain,  E.  H.  Towle,  H. 
Lincoln  ChatkofT,  George  Casmeze,  Edgar  J. 
Bouligny,  Bob  Scanlon,  Dennis  Dowd, 
George  Del  Peuch,  Charles  A.  Beaumont,  F. 
Morlae,  A.  Segar,  F.  Capdevielle,  Charles 
Trinkard,  F.  Landreux,  Bert  Hall. 

From  Paris  we  were  sent  to  Rouen. 
While  waiting  there  we  had  our  first  taste 
of  what  was  coming  later.  We  were  about 
seven  hundred,  garrisoned  in  an  old  machine 
shop.  We  slept  on  a  brick  floor,  underneath 
the  benches,  and,  as  we  had  very  little  straw, 
the  floor  seemed  pretty  hard.  We  received 
our  first  uniforms  which  were  known  as  fa- 
tigue uniforms.  They  were  made  of  duck, 
pretty  hard  and  scratchy,  but  answered  the 
purpose.  We  also  enjoyed  our  mess,  as 
most  of  the  boys  were  used  to  high  living 
and,  after  the  hard  work  that  we  were  doing, 
a  can  of  soup  and  a  chunk  of  tough  beef 


8  "EN  L'AIR!" 

tasted  pretty  good.  Here  I  also  discovered 
that  it  does  not  take  long  to  harden  a  tender 
stomach. 

We  had  been  at  Rouen  four  days  when 
we  received  orders  to  join  our  regiment  at 
Toulouse.  The  trip  was  a  novel  one  for 
most  of  the  boys.  We  spent  the  fifty-five 
hours  of  the  journey  in  ordinary  box-cars, 
about  thirty-five  to  fifty  men  in  a  car.  These 
French  box-cars  are  only  twenty  feet  long, 
so  you  can  imagine  that  we  were  a  little 
crowded  during  those  two  days  and  three 
nights.  There  was  no  straw  or  hay,  only  the 
hard  boards  to  sleep  on,  but  all  the  boys 
seemed  contented. 

At  Toulouse  we  detrained  and  awaited  the 
arrival  of  our  regiment  from  Morocco.  This 
regiment  is  called  the  Deuxieme  Regiment 
Estranger.  We  sure  opened  our  eyes  when 
they  arrived,  all  nationalities  and  colors. 
We  soon  made  friends,  however,  and  got 
along  nicely.  Most  of  them  were  hard  cus- 
tomers; they  would  steal  anything  from  a 
cancelled  postage  stamp  to  a  modern  dread- 
nought. 


WILLIAM   THAW 


THE  FOREIGN  LEGION         g 

This  Foreign  Legion  dates  back  to  1812. 
It  was  formed  in  Morocco  because  most  of 
the  members  would  not  be  permitted  to 
live  anywhere  else.  They  were  murderers, 
robbers  and  crooks  of  all  descriptions.  So 
they  were  kept  in  Morocco  where  they  could 
only  work  on  each  other.  They  were  very 
good  fighters,  and,  of  course,  kept  in  train- 
ing, as  they  were  continually  fighting  hostile 
bands  of  natives.  These  poor  devils  were 
nearly  all  killed  off  in  France  the  first 
eighteen  months  of  the  war.  This  regiment 
was  4,000  strong,  while  an  ordinary  French 
regiment  has  about  2,000  men.  I  have 
learned  since  that  it  has  been  reorganized 
twelve  times,  which  means  that  some  forty 
thousand  men  have  fought  in  it,  practically 
every  man  killed  or  made  prisoner. 

We  were  put  into  the  Foreign  Legion  to 
fill  up  the  vacancies  caused  by  some  1,800 
Germans  who  were  left  in  Morocco.  The 
Foreign  Legion  was  very  popular  with  Ger- 
man and  Austrian  subjects,  who  preferred 
it    to    their    own    armies.      Once    in    the 


io  UEN  L'AIRr 

Estranger^  you  were  safe,  they  could  not  take 
you  out.  One  was  never  asked  any  questions 
as  to  his  origin.  One  could  choose  his  own 
name.  There  were  a  few  non-commissioned 
officers  in  the  Legion  with  such  names  as 
Wagner  and  Friedman.  They  were  good 
soldiers  and  have  all  been  killed  since  in  ac- 
tion. 

Our  financial  affairs  were  the  least  of  our 
troubles,  I  can  assure  you.  We  were  paid 
every  ten  days,  and  they  had  us  sign  a  re- 
ceipt for  the  dime  every  time,  just  as  if  we 
were  getting  a  million  dollars  out  of  a  bank, 
instead  of  one  cent  a  day,  which  was  the  pay 
we  received  at  the  beginning.  If  a  soldier 
was  issued  a  sack  of  tobacco,  then  he  drew 
only  seven  cents  on  pay  day  instead  of  ten. 
We  had  been  reading  in  the  newspapers 
about  the  high  cost  of  living  and  Billy  Thaw 
said  to  me : 

"I  don't  see  why  they  complain,  when 
they  can  go  to  the  front  and  die  on  a  cent  a 
day." 

About  a  year  and  a  half  ago  the  pay  was 


THE  FOREIGN  LEGION        n 

raised,  and  the  simple  soldat  or  private  in 
the  French  infantry  gets  five  cents  a  day,  a 
corporal  gets  25  cents;  a  sergeant,  50  cents; 
a  Second  Lieutenant  $32.00  per  month;  a 
First  Lieutenant  about  $45.00;  and  a  cap- 
tain $65.00  per  month.  In  the  aviation  a 
corporal  pilot  gets  fifty  cents  per  day;  a 
sergeant  $1.50;  Second  Lieutenant  about 
$140.00.  Officers  get  double  indemnity  for 
flying,  a  non-commissioned  man  gets  $1.00 
and  an  officer  $2.00  per  day  extra  for  doing 
the  same  work;  a  First  Lieutenant  about 
$152.00,  and  a  captain  about  $190.00.  You 
pay  for  your  own  keep  and  dress  yourself, 
so  as  a  matter  of  fortune  you  won't  get  rich, 
even  in  the  Aviation  Corps. 

Our  training  at  Toulouse  was  short,  but 
very  severe.  It  consisted  principally  of  bay- 
onet practice,  shooting  and  field  maneuver- 
ing. There  were  a  few  long  marches  which 
was  the  easiest  part,  notwithstanding 
our  seventy-pound  load.  We  Americans 
trimmed  up  pretty  well  at  the  end.  Some  of 
the  boys  fell  by  the  wayside  owing  to  physi- 


12  "EN  LAIR?' 

cal  disabilities.  On  the  day  of  departure 
for  the  front  I  think  we  only  left  two  or  three 
behind. 


CHAPTER  II 


AT   THE    FRONT 


The  day  we  entrained  at  Toulouse  to  go 
to  the  front  everybody  was  happy.  We  had 
no  idea  where  we  were  going,  but  we  were 
on  our  way !  The  trip  in  the  box-cars  lasted 
about  sixty  hours,  when  we  found  ourselves 
at  Camp  de  Mailly.  This  camp  was  a  big 
one  and  close  to  the  front,  so  that  we  Ameri- 
cans were  introduced  for  the  first  time  to  ac- 
tual fighting  conditions.  And  they  sure  did 
give  us  some  strenuous  work-outs.  We  soon 
learned  why  the  French  railroads  number 
the  hours  from  l  to  24,  and  say  13  o'clock  in- 
stead of  1  o'clock.  And  we  worked  right 
through  from  1  o'clock  on  Monday  morning 
until  24  o'clock  on  Saturday  night. 

Here,  at  Camp  de  Mailly,  we  received 
our  first  promotion.     We  were  made  first- 

13 


H  "EN  LAIR!" 

class  soldiers  because  of  our  marksmanship. 
In  shooting  practice  we  very  seldom  ever 
missed  the  bull's  eye.  That  is,  Bach,  Thaw, 
Sweeney  and  myself.  This  entitles  you  to 
wear  a  red  stripe  on  your  sleeve,  and  is  quite 
a  distinction.  Some  of  the  men  had  been  in 
the  Foreign  Legion  for  fifteen  years  and  were 
not  yet  first-class  soldiers. 

At  Camp  de  Mailly  they  got  us  out 
usually  at  5  o'clock  in  the  morning,  some- 
times as  early  as  3.  The  first  thing  was 
a  five-mile  hike  to  the  maneuvering 
grounds.  There  we  would  drill  for  a  couple 
of  hours  and  then  go  on  a  sort  of  scouting 
expedition  over  the  hills,  always  through 
brush  and  forests.  They  split  us  up  and  we 
would  have  half  our  force,  the  right,  as  op- 
posing troops.  Then  each  force  would  try 
to  get  the  advantage  of  the  other  and  attack. 
By  this  method  we  were  taught  how  to  pro- 
tect ourselves.  The  country  was  uneven  and 
the  brush  very  thick.  All  this  was  great 
sport  for  our  officers  who  were  mounted,  but 
for  us,  not  so  sporty.     We  were  the  goats. 


AT  THE  FRONT  15 

Doing  this  over  thirty  miles  of  rough 
terrain  is  not  sport,  and  nothing  to  eat  until 
you  finished.  We  used  to  clear  up  a  spot  in 
the  forest  and  put  up  our  tents  just  to  see 
how  well  they  looked.  Then  we  would  take 
them  down  again  and  hike  out  for  camp. 

Most  of  our  drilling  was  conducted  by  an 
adjutant,  the  highest  non-commissioned  offi- 
cer in  the  French  Army.  He  has  more  au- 
thority than  a  captain  in  the  American  Army, 
and  you  won't  be  leary  of  these  boys  because 
they  are  tough  customers,  and  would  put 
you  in  jail  for  six  months  if  they  choose,  and 
no  questions  asked. 

It  was  here  that  we  learned  about  the  cus- 
tom in  the  Foreign  Legion  of  having  a  com- 
rade de  combat.  He  is  a  sort  of  fighting  side- 
partner.  You  and  he  are  supposed  to  stay 
together  always  during  action.  The  com- 
rade de  combat  assigned  to  me  was  an  Italian 
by  the  name  of  Conti.  He  told  me  that  he 
had  been  out  of  jail  only  nine  days  during 
the  last  eight  years.  Before  joining  the 
Legion  he  had  been  a  bicycle  thief  to  begin 


16  "EN  L'AIR!" 

with.  He  said  that  this  did  not  pay  him  well 
enough,  so  he  took  up  grave-robbing,  and 
found  that  a  much  more  profitable  business. 
I  made  him  believe  that  I  was  a  much  worse 
character  than  he  was,  so  we  got  on  fine.  In 
fact,  Conti  and  I  became  great  friends  before 
our  training  at  Camp  de  Mailly  was  over. 

Conti  used  to  steal  my  knife  on  an  average 
of  twice  a  week,  and  would  very  probably 
try  to  sell  it  back  to  me  the  day  following. 
On  one  occasion,  in  particular,  I  had  received 
some  chocolates  from  a  young  lady  in 
Switzerland.  As  I  did  not  want  to  open  the 
package  in  the  afternoon  that  I  received  it 
(all  of  my  comrades  would  have  wanted  a 
piece  and  sweets  are  very  rare),  I  hid  my 
chocolates  in  my  knapsack.  Between  the 
time  I  received  it  and  night,  it  disappeared. 
Conti  was  sleeping  peacefully,  but  I  felt  as 
though  he  had  my  chocolates.  As  we  all  car- 
ried big  knives  at  that  time  I  put  my  knife 
against  his  neck  and  awakened  him  and 
said : 

"Conti,  give  me  my  chocolates." 


AT  THE  FRONT  17 

He  produced  them.  Stealing  was  second 
nature  with  most  of  these  men. 

One  morning  we  were  ordered  to  get 
ready  to  leave  camp.  At  last  we  were  or- 
dered to  start  for  the  big  show!  All  the 
Americans  in  the  Legion  were  in  pretty  good 
shape  by  this  time,  but  at  that  the  first 
marches  seemed  hard  to  us.  One  hundred 
and  sixty  kilometers  in  four  days,  or  about 
twenty-five  miles  per  day.  It  doesn't  sound 
long  if  you  say  it  fast,  but  with  a  seventy- 
pound  load  to  carry  it  is  different.  Some  of 
the  boys  had  sore  feet  and  suffered  very 
much,  but  they  were  game  and  hung  on. 
They  did  better  than  some  of  the  old  timers. 
Bill  Thaw  suffered  most.  His  feet  were 
swollen  up  like  Zeppelins,  and  they  were 
not  like  Cinderella's  feet  at  the  beginning, 
either.     But  he  stuck  it  out,  game  old  Bill. 

At  last,  after  passing  through  a  totally 
devastated  country,  with  absolutely  nothing 
left  standing  and  thousands  of  graves  every- 
where, we  commenced  to  realize  the  serious- 
ness of  the  war.    This  country  had  been  torn 


18  "£#  LAIR!" 

to  pieces  by  the  Huns  as  they  retreated. 
People  in  America  cannot  realize  the  devas- 
tation in  France  until  it  is  possible  for  them 
to  see  it.  You  will  find  cities  of  ten  thou- 
sand up  to  thirty-five  thousand  population 
where  it  is  impossible  for  you  to  discover  a 
trace  that  a  town  has  ever  existed.  [There, 
will  be  great  clifficulties  in  France  after  the 
war,  for  people  locating  their  property,  as 
there  are  absolutely  no  landmarks;  and  all 
records  have  been  destroyed  in  these  cities, 
so  that  they  have  no  means  whatever  of 
tracing  or  locating  their  property. 

Several  times  at  night  we  would  be 
aroused  by  German  raiders,  small  groups  of 
seven  to  fifteen  Germans  who  had  been  cut 
off  and  were  caught  inside  the  French  lines. 
As  this  country  is  all  wooded  they  kept  in 
hiding  during  the  day  and  came  out  on  raid- 
ing parties  at  night  to  get  something  to  eat. 
They  caused  a  great  deal  of  annoyance  to 
us,  as  French  troops  were  often  ambushed  by 
these  bands,  many  of  which  were  cavalry. 
We  found  one  German  soldier  hiding  in  a 


j±jj.*m^\.*sw**  it  ,y  *tedmfe*i*. 


BERT  HALL  RETURNING  FROM  PATROL 

Taken  by  a  comrade.     Clouds  very  low,  an  idea  of  desolation  on  the 
battle  front. 


AT,  THE  FRONT  19 

chimney  who  had  an  arm  shot  off.  He  had 
plastered  mud  on  the  stump  and  it  was  heal- 
ing very  well.  He  was  afraid  to  surrender 
as  he  thought  he  would  be  killed.  I  believe 
it  was  three  months  before  they  were  all  cap- 
tured. 

After  detouring  a  great  deal  we  finally  ar- 
rived at  the  front  line  near  the  Aisne,  about 
3  o'clock  one  afternoon.  The  place  was  Ver- 
zenay,  near  Rheims.  We  remained  three 
days  at  Verzenay,  without  much  sport  of  any 
kind  outside  of  catching  a  spy  who  was  sig- 
naling to  the  Germans  with  a  light.  No 
need  to  tell  what  happened  to  him. 

On  the  morning  of  the  fourth  day  we  were 
ordered  out  of  Verzenay  and  that  same  night 
arrived  at  Cuery  des  Chaudes  Arbres,  near 
Craonne  and  Cromwell,  where  there  had 
been  quite  a  bit  of  fighting  recently.  Our 
company  was  chosen  as  advance  guard  and 
we  started  out  to  find  the  Germans,  but  they 
found  us  first.  Here  we  got  under  fire  for 
the  first  time.  The  Boches  had  sent  an  aero- 
plane over  us  and  when  it  had  signaled  back 


20  "EN  LAIRr 

the  firing  began.  They  did  pretty  well,  too, 
as  they  were  shooting  at  about  four  miles 
distance  and  we  were  behind  some  hills. 
Some  of  the  shells  came  very  close,  but  the 
boys  didn't  seem  to  mind  them  much.  Shells 
are  not  so  bad  if  kept  at  a  certain  distance, 
but  very  unpleasant  if  too  close.  Bill  Thaw 
used  to  say  when  one  came  whizzing  past: 

"Wish  I  was  home,"  and  then  we  would 
all  forget  it  until  the  next  one  came  along. 

During  this,  our  first  experience  under 
German  artillery  fire,  it  was  amusing  to 
watch  the  actions  of  the  men*  We  were  in 
open  country,  mostly  sugar  beet  fields,  and 
I  saw  men  get  down  on  their  hands  and 
knees  and  put  their  heads  under  the  beet 
leaves.  As  long  as  they  could  not  see  out 
they  felt  perfectly  safe.  While  we  were 
marching  up  there  were  about  fifteen  of  us 
posted  as  an  advanced  guard.  Among  them 
was  one  of  our  short-legged  friends  whom  I 
will  not  mention  by  name,  and  he  was  very 
much  inconvenienced  by  the  German  shell- 
fire.    We  were  marching  in  single  file,  as  in 


AT  THE  FRONT  21 

that  manner  you  are  not  as  easily  detected 
as  if  marching  in  larger  formation.  Jimmie 
Bach  and  I  walked  up  alongside  of  this 
friend  of  ours  and  when  we  did  so,  he  began 
to  walk  faster.  We  would  increase  our  gait, 
keep  up  with  him,  then  he  would  slow  up 
and  then  we  would  slow  up.  Finally,  he 
said : 

"Go  ahead;  don't  you  know  the  Germans 
can  see  us  easier  when  there  are  two  or  three 
together f" 

We  said :  "We  don't  care." 

We  were  about  four  miles  from  the  Ger- 
man lines  at  that  time.  With  this  same 
young  fellow  we  had  some  very  amusing  ex- 
periences later  on  in  the  trenches.  As  soon 
as  he  got  there  he  seemed  to  have  lost  a  great 
deal  of  his  fighting  spirit.  The  first  thing 
that  happened  to  him  was  that  he  could  not 
see  in  the  trenches.  Then  he  got  rheuma- 
tism, but  was  finally  placed  as  telephone 
operator,  and  afterwards  he  was  sent  to  Mo- 
rocco for  reasons  unknown.  One  day,  after 
a  very  heavy  bombardment  when  we  had 


22  "EN  LAIR!" 

lost  quite  a  few  of  the  boys,  he  came  up  to 
us  for  sympathy.  No  one  would  sympathize 
with  him.  Finally,  as  a  last  resort,  he  looked 
up  one  of  our  German  corporals,  by  the  name 
of  Wiedman.  He  was  very  busy  working 
on  one  of  our  dug-outs  that  had  been  dam- 
aged by  shell-fire  and  he  said  to  this  old 
German : 

"This  war  is  terrible,  isn't  it^  So  and  so 
has  just  been  killed." 

The  old  corporal,  without  stopping  his 
work,  turned  to  him  and  said : 

"Oh,  that's  nothing.  It's  probably  your 
turn  next." 

And  at  that  he  almost  fainted.  There 
were  very  few  of  this  type  among  us  and  it 
didn't  take  long  to  get  rid  of  them. 

It  was  nearly  dark  on  the  day  that  we 
finally  arrived  at  our  post,  and  then  we  had 
a  march  of  over  four  miles  to  the  trenches 
which  had  been  assigned  to  us.  The  mud 
was  up  to  our  knees.  During  the  march 
Jimmy  Bach  and  I  pulled  one  of  our  short- 
legged  friends  for  two  miles  through  the 


AT  THE  FRONT  23 

mud.  Some  pull.  We  finally  got  him  there 
all  right.  We  piled  into  the  trenches  about 
10  o'clock  that  night,  and  the  regiment  we 
relieved  seemed  glad  to  get  out. 

The  trenches  were  a  new  game  for  us. 
We  couldn't  see  a  thing,  and  we  didn't 
know  in  what  direction  or  how  far  the  Ger- 
mans were  from  us.  As  a  matter  of  fact  we 
were  too  tired  to  do  much  investigating  just 
then.  Almost  the  first  thing  we  received  or- 
ders not  to  talk  or  smoke.  That  was  tough 
we  thought.  We  didn't  want  to  talk  and 
we  didn't  mind  being  shot  at,  but  not  to 
smoke  was  too  much.  Naturally,  being 
worn  out,  we  all  went  to  sleep.  I  was  chosen 
as  sentinel  in  our  trench  and  I  looked  around 
for  the  Germans.  I  could  not  see  any,  so  I 
decided  I  would  sleep  a  little,  too.  We  had 
left  our  guns  up  on  the  parapet.  I  draped 
myself  on  top  of  my  pals  and  had  about 
started  to  go  to  sleep  when  I  thought  it 
would  be  best  to  take  the  guns  down  for 
fear  the  Germans  might  come  up  and  steal 
them.    I  did  this  and  felt  much  easier  in  my 


24  "EN  LAIR!" 

mind.  Once  I  was  awakened  by  a  shell  that 
came  screaming  over  our  heads.  Then  the 
breakfast  call,  but  no  breakfast. 

The  trenches  had  been  very  hastily  made 
so  we  started  out  the  first  day  to  improve 
them.  Believe  me,  you  can  dig  some  when 
the  shells  are  falling  all  around  and  your 
digging  is  very  essential  to  your  health. 
The  German  lines  were  about  nine  hundred 
yards  away. 

During  our  first  morning  in  the  trenches 
a  few  of  us  were  called  out  to  shoot  at  some 
Germans  who  were  chopping  wood.  Back 
of  their  lines,  probably  twelve  hundred  yards 
from  our  trenches,  they  continued  to  chop, 
and  did  not  seem  to  mind  our  fire  at  all. 
Finally  we  decided  they  were  too  far  away 
to  do  any  damage  so  we  went  back  into  our 
trenches  without  getting  any  results. 

During  the  day  we  were  very  heavily 
shelled,  and,  of  course,  we  lost  a  few  men. 
We  continued  our  work,  however,  until  we 
had  very  good  trenches  and  very  comfortable 
ones,  well  covered  and  dry.    We  remained 


w  « 


AT  THE  FRONT  25 

in  these  trenches  for  the  first  period  of  eight 
days,  and  lost  only  a  few  of  our  boys.  Then 
fresh  troops  were  moved  in  and  we  went 
out. 

In  the  trenches,  we  spent  our  time  read- 
ing, talking  and  sleeping  when  possible. 
Also  killing  to-tos.  We  could  not  play  cards 
as  cards  were  scarce  and  we  had  no  money. 
Playing  cards  without  money  is  not  a  man's 
game.  We  used  to  talk  mostly  about  eating. 
That  sure  was  our  most  popular  subject.  As 
soon  as  you  mentioned  something  good  to 
eat,  someone  would  tell  you  to  shut  up,  not 
to  talk  about  such  things  as  we  would  never 
eat  again,  and  we  did  almost  get  out  of  the 
habit. 

The  to-tos  were  our  most  popular  form  of 
sport,  at  first.  That's  the  French  name  for 
them,  and  some  people  call  them  seam-squir- 
rels, or  just  plain  vermin.  I  think  the  to-tos 
must  be  of  German  descent,  as  each  one  car- 
ries an  Iron  Cross  on  his  back. 

They  get  to  be  pretty  good-sized  if  per- 
mitted to  thrive.     We  had  nothing  to  kill 


26  "EN  LAIR!" 

them  with  so  in  a  few  days  we  had  some 
good  big  ones.  We  used  to  have  names  for 
them,  such  as  Gyp  the  Blood,  for  they  were 
always  bent  on  murdering  some  one  by  de- 
grees. I  had  one  I  called  Lefty  Louie  be- 
cause he  limped;  he  had  a  bad  left  leg.  I 
could  feel  his  limp  when  he  walked.  We 
were  also  bothered  by  rats.  When  we  first 
saw  a  rat  we  used  to  feed  him,  but  soon  we 
found  that  we  had  made  a  mistake.  Almost 
over  night  they  were  with  us  by  the  thou- 
sand. They  would  eat  your  shoes  and  run 
all  over  you  at  night.  Between  the  rats  and 
the  to-tos  there  was  little  sleep  to  be  had. 
However,  we  were  all  very  well  satisfied 
with  trench  life.  Things  began  to  wake  up 
about  1 130  in  the  morning  with  the  kitchen 
detail.  This  was  made  up  of  a  corporal  and 
from  seven  to  eleven  men.  They  were  de- 
tailed to  go  back  to  the  kitchen,  which  was 
about  four  and  a  half  miles  in  the  rear,  to 
carry  up  the  food  for  the  day,  coffee,  cold 
meat  and  bread.  Each  man  got  half  a  loaf 
of  bread,  a  big  slice  of  meat,  and  one  pint 


AT  THE  FRONT  27 

of  coffee.  We  had  to  carry  this  for  four  and 
a  half  miles  in  mud  up  to  our  knees,  dark 
as  it  possibly  could  be,  and  if  by  any  accident 
you  slipped  and  fell,  one  hundred  and  fifty 
men  didn't  eat.  We  had  to  watch  our  steps 
or  else  get  abused  by  our  comrades.  Being 
in  pretty  good  health  I  was  generally  chosen 
to  carry  the  bread.  Seventy-five  loaves 
weighing  two  pounds  each,  in  a  large  sack, 
was  some  job  twice  a  day.  You  never  know 
what  you  can  do  until  you  try. 


CHAPTER  III 


IN   THE   TRENCHES 


Life  in  the  trenches  isn't  all  carrying 
bread  by  day  or  killing  to-tos  by  night.  We 
very  soon  learned  that. 

We  had  hardly  got  used  to  it  when  my 
squad  was  chosen  for  advance  guard  work. 
I  could  give  a  technical  description  of  it,  but 
it  consists  of  standing  in  a  hole  half  full  of 
water  for  thirteen  hours,  one  hundred  and 
fifty  yards  in  advance  of  the  trenches  in  No 
Man's  Land.  You  are  to  signal  anything 
that  happens  during  the  night.  Bill  Thaw, 
Bach,  Landreaux,  Charles  Ollinger,  Stewart 
Carstairs,  Corporal  Morlae  and  myself  were 
chosen  for  duty  the  same  night.  It  passed, 
however,  with  nothing  of  any  note.  We 
could  see  the  Germans  putting  up  wire  en- 
tanglements, but  they  were  near  their  own 

28 


IN  THE  TRENCHES  29 

lines.  We  were  instructed  not  to  shoot  until 
ordered.  So,  without  a  general  order,  which 
was  given  sometimes,  we  went  out  on  scout- 
ing parties  of  only  four  or  five  men.  If  we 
had  been  permitted  to  shoot  we  would  have 
been  killed  by  some  of  our  own  men,  as  we 
were  in  front  of  our  own  trenches.  The  Ger- 
mans, as  long  as  they  were  near  their  own 
trenches,  did  us  no  harm.  The  artillery  did 
all  that  kind  of  shooting.  We  were  only 
there  to  repel  an  attack  on  our  trenches,  or 
to  carry  out  one  on  the  Boche  trenches,  and  to 
signal  any  movement  the  Germans  might 
make. 

It  was  about  3  o'clock  one  morning,  I 
should  think,  when  our  squad  got  out  into 
No  Man's  Land.  We  very  soon  saw  six 
shadowy  objects  moving  near  the  German 
lines.  They  were  obscured  by  some  brush, 
and  every  one  was  sure  it  was  a  German  at- 
tack. They  all  wanted  to  shoot,  but  I  in- 
sisted it  was  not  wise.  If  we  had  fired  we 
would  have  been  fired  upon  by  our  own  com- 
rades and  killed.     I  had  some  difficulty  in 


30  "EN  LAIR!" 

making  them  desist  from  shooting  but  suc- 
ceeded. As  the  objects  came  nearer  we  dis- 
covered that  they  were  six  cows!  Morlae 
went  out  to  see  if  they  were  accompanied  by 
any  Germans,  as  they  sometimes  used  things 
like  this  for  a  blind.  As  Morlae  approached, 
he  was  attacked  by  a  gentleman  cow  in  the 
party  and  beat  a  hasty  retreat  back.  The 
cows  were  the  only  enemy  we  sighted  all 
night. 

Toward  5  o'clock  we  were  to  go  back 
to  our  trenches  and  we  started  promptly.  I 
happened  to  be  the  last,  and  as  I  was  going 
across  the  open  ground  I  was  fired  upon. 
When  I  stopped  to  see  what  the  trouble  was 
I  felt  a  breeze  on  my  face  and  realized  it  was 
another  bullet  going  by,  intended  for  me. 
It  came  from  our  lines  to  the  left.  They 
thought  I  was  a  German.  I  decided  very 
quickly  to  lie  flat  on  the  ground,  and  com- 
menced to  fire  back.  I  thought  if  they 
wanted  to  fight  I  would  accommodate  them 
as  I  was  there  for  that  purpose.  An  officer 
appeared  on  the  scene  and  stopped  our  little 


IN  THE  TRENCHES  31 

war.  I  crawled  to  the  trenches  and  was  con- 
gratulated by  my  pals  for  having  carried  off 
the  honors  by  firing  the  last  shot. 

We  had  another  night  or  two  of  quiet, 
when  a  new  sensation  developed — a  peculiar 
creeping  sensation,  sort  of  itchy.  It  was  our 
old  friends  the  to-tos,  now  too  numerous  to 
be  funny.  Millions  of  them,  and  absolutely 
no  relief  in  any  way;  no  change  of  clothing 
nor  disinfectant  of  any  kind.  They  are  ter- 
rible, one  cannot  rest  or  sleep  a  moment.  I 
discovered  one  remedy  that  would  give  re- 
lief for  a  few  moments  at  a  time.  I  had  on 
three  shirts  and  when  the  to-tos  got  well  as- 
sembled on  the  inner  one  I  would  change  it, 
putting  it  on  the  outside.  This  kept  them 
hustling  to  make  the  trip  down  and  up  on 
the  inside,  which  took  them  almost  an  hour. 
I  would  sleep  during  that  time.  Some  of 
the  boys  went  insane  from  the  vermin;  you 
cannot  imagine  how  terrible  they  are.  We 
suffered,  too,  very  much  for  the  want  of 
cigarettes,  which  is  one  of  the  most  essential 
things  to  a  soldier.    I  much  preferred  a  cigar- 


32  "EN  LAIR!" 

ette  to  a  meal  during  some  of  the  days  in  the 
trenches,  and  both  were  scarce. 

We  were  generally  called  out  two  or  three 
times  a  night  for  an  attack  that  never  came 
off.  I  was  always  glad,  for  Stewart  Car- 
stairs,  the  only  one  who  had  cigarettes, 
would  say : 

"Bertie,  let's  have  a  smoke  as  we  might  be 
killed  and  this  may  be  our  last." 

I  said  yes,  and  would  crawl  in  and  smoke. 
I  was  always  glad  when  an  attack  was  sig- 
naled as  I  was  sure  of  a  cigarette. 

On  the  eighth  day  we  left  our  trenches  for 
the  two-day  rest  period.  They  called  it  a 
"rest,"  and  it  was  a  fine  one — march  all  night 
in  the  mud,  arrive  at  7  o'clock  in  the  morn- 
ing, sleep  in  the  mud,  then  dig  trenches  until 
dark;  do  this  for  two  days,  get  bombarded 
just  the  same  as  in  the  front-line  trenches. 
On  the  night  of  the  second  day  we  were  off 
again  to  some  new  trenches  which  had  to  be 
strengthened.  We  were  continually  shelled 
and  bitten  by  to-tos.  This  new  trench  sys- 
tem was  called  Picadilly  Circus.     It  was 


IN  THE  TRENCHES  33 

some  network,  more  complicated  than  the 
streets  of  Paris  dare  be.  You  would  get  lost 
very  easily  if  you  could  not  see  the  marks. 
Afterwards  we  marked  them  all  with  names 
like  streets.  We  built  up  these  trenches  also, 
which  seemed  to  be  a  sort  of  pastime  for  us. 
They  were  about  five  feet  deep,  three  feet 
wide  at  bottom  and  two  feet  wide  at  top, 
covered  over  with  big  timbers  or  anything 
we  could  find,  and  about  two  feet  of  dirt  on 
top  of  that.  There  were  port-holes  for  our 
guns.  It  requires  three  men  per  yard  on  the 
front  to  do  this  work,  so  you  can  imagine 
how  many  men  it  requires  for  the  six  hun- 
dred and  seventy-five  kilometers  of  front  in 
France. 

The  Picadilly  Circus  trench  system  was 
built  under  very  trying  conditions,  and  our 
troops  suffered  heavily  from  shell-fire. 
Probably  forty  per  cent,  were  killed.  In  the 
particular  trench  where  Jimmie  Bach  and 
myself  were,  we  had  a  sort  of  a  rise  just 
where  we  went  out.  So  one  day  we  decided 
to  dig  that  out.    Jimmie  got  his  pick  and 


34  "EN  L'AIR!" 

started  to  dig.  About  the  second  stroke,  he 
picked  out  part  of  a  human  head.  So  we 
decided  we'd  leave  it  there. 

While  we  were  in  these  trenches  we  lost  a 
great  many  men.  We  used  to  go  out  and 
bury  them  at  night.  It  was  very  easy  as  our 
cemetery  was  in  a  big  bank  just  back  of  the 
trenches.  So  we  would  just  dig  a  notch  in 
the  bank  and  bury  them  standing  up.  It  was 
much  easier  than  digging  an  ordinary  grave. 

While  we  were  here  the  first  snow  fell. 
Bill  Thaw  and  I  decided  to  catch  a  few  rab- 
bits, as  we  were  hungry;  so  we  proceeded  to 
go  out  and  find  some  wire  to  make  snares. 
The  only  wire  available  was  a  small  tele- 
phone wire  used  in  the  trenches.  So  we  tore 
down  the  telephone  line  to  make  rabbit 
traps,  and  we  heard  the  results  of  our  de- 
molishing the  telephone  line,  but  in  language 
that  cannot  be  expressed  here. 

We  lost  about  as  many  men  by  shell-fire 
when  in  repose  as  we  did  when  in  the 
trenches,  as  there  was  absolutely  no  protec- 
tion for  us.    One  gets  used  to  those  things, 


£    > 


Eh        u 


IN  THE  TRENCHES  35 

sort  of  a  matter  of  fact.  When  one  hears  the 
shells  coming  there  is  not  much  danger;  it's 
the  ones  you  don't  hear  that  get  you.  Then, 
too,  you  can  get  trained  so  as  to  be  able  to 
tell  about  where  a  shell  is  going  to  fall.  By 
listening  one  can  hear  them  coming  quite  a 
distance;  they  make  a  noise  like  a  hot  iron 
being  thrust  into  water.  Small  shells  make 
very  little  noise ;  it  is  only  four-inch  or  larger 
that  make  much  noise  going  through  the  air. 
The  actual  explosion  is  not  as  terrible  as  one 
would  imagine.  Some  of  the  German 
Krupps  had  four  distinct  explosions.  They 
were  constructed  in  such  a  manner  as  to  ex- 
plode at  very  short  intervals,  which  made 
them  more  effective  than  ordinary  shells. 

This  life  of  ours  in  the  Foreign  Legion 
continued  until  winter  came  on.  Early  in 
November  the  very  cold  weather  began  with 
five  inches  of  snow.  This  added  a  new  hard- 
ship, for  some  of  the  boys  got  frozen  feet  and 
suffered  very  much.  We  did  not  have  any 
medicines,  only  opium  pills  and  iodine.  No 
matter  what  your  ailment  was,  you  got  one 


36  "EN  LAIR!" 

or  the  other.  We  were  pretty  short  on  food 
in  these  days,  too.  I  do  not  know  the  reason 
for  this,  but  during  November  I  can  tell  you 
that  we  didn't  overeat. 

As  the  weeks  went  by,  with  constant  fight- 
ing, No  Man's  Land  between  our  lines  and 
the  German  trenches  became  a  terrible  place 
to  look  upon.  There  were  many  dead,  both 
French  and  German,  some  of  whom  had  lain 
there  four  or  five  months.  It  is  a  black  pic- 
ture, that  landscape  full  of  shell-holes, 
which,  in  turn,  were  often  full  of  what  were 
once  the  poor  devils  who  faced  each  other, 
who  went  over  and  never  came  back.  But 
the  Legion  didn't  fare  any  worse  than  the 
other  regiments,  and  war  is  war. 

From  the  17th  of  October  until  the  mid- 
dle of  December,  I  never  washed  my  face 
and  hands.  I  never  had  my  shoes  off  and  no 
change  of  clothing  of  any  sort.  But  I  used 
to  shave  regularly,  as  I  never  could  stand 
whiskers.  We  had  coffee  brought  up  in  the 
morning  about  3  a.m.  and  as  I  never  drank 
corf  ee  I  used  to  use  mine  to  make  lather  and 


IN  THE  TRENCHES  37 

shave.  Some  days  we  had  absolutely  noth- 
ing to  eat.  There  was  no  drinking  water  to 
be  had,  as  there  were  numerous  dead  lying 
all  over  the  country. 

Until  December  14th,  1914,  I  remained 
with  the  Legion.  Then  three  of  us  were 
transferred  into  the  aviation.  Bill  Thaw, 
James  Bach  and  myself. 


CHAPTER  IV 

TRAINING    IN    THE    AVIATION    CORPS 

We  jumped  right  into  our  new  work  in 
the  Aviation  Corps.  It  was  what  we  had 
wanted  right  along,  so  there  were  no  heart- 
breaks on  our  side  when  we  bade  a  fond  fare- 
well to  the  Foreign  Legion  that  14th  day  of 
December,  1914.  A  lot  of  my  pals  were  no 
longer  where  I  could  say  good-bye  to  them 
anyhow.  Many  of  the  boys  were  already 
buried  God  knows  where.  And  we  never 
did  know  what  happened  to  others.  I  had 
long  ago  lost  sight  of  Conti,  my  comrade  de 
combat.  I  am  sure,  however,  if  he  has  been 
taken  prisoner  that  he  will  steal  all  the 
Kaiser's  decorations  eventually. 

Aviation,  we  soon  discovered,  is  a  whole 
lot  more  than  flying.  Our  experience 
showed  that  time,  and  a  heap  of  it,  is  re- 

38 


TRAINING  IN  AVIATION  CORPS    39 

quired  to  develop  the  men  and  to  make  an 
efficient  corps.  To  say  nothing  of  millions. 
Aviation  is  really  two  organizations,  and 
they  are  kept  separate : 

( 1 )  The  front  fighting  units. 

(2)  Schools  of  entrainment. 

At  the  front,  aviation  is  divided  into  five 
separate  branches.  First,  machines  that 
regulate  artillery  fire.  Second,  bombarding 
machines.  Third,  photographing.  Fourth, 
reconnoitering.  Fifth,  the  fighting  ma- 
chines. 

The  front  fighting  units  are  under  the 
:ommand  of  the  General  Headquarters  Staff, 
like  other  branches  of  the  army.  The  schools 
of  entrainment  are  directed  by  the  depart- 
ment of  the  Minister  of  War.  Naturally 
we  went  to  school  first,  for  our  A  B  C's.  And 
it  was  about  the  tightest  little  school  we 
could  hope  to  see.  Our  course  of  training 
began  at  once.  I  was  put  on  a  small  mono- 
plane which  had  a  20-horse-power  motor. 
The  wings  of  the  plane  had  been  clipped. 
About  all  I  did  at  first  was  to  roll  around  on 
the  ground. 


40  "EN  LAIR!" 

Very  soon,  however,  I  was  able  to  make 
the  old  thing  go  in  straight  lines,  and  then  I 
felt  that  I  was  a  sure-enough  flyer.  It  wasn't 
so  easy  at  that,  for  it  is  very  difficult  even 
for  an  old  hand  with  these  short-winged  ma- 
chines. When  a  man  shows  some  improve- 
ment at  this  kind  of  practice  he  is  given  a 
higher-powered  machine.  With  this  he  can 
roll  along  at  about  sixty  miles  an  hour. 

When  your  man  is  capable  of  handling 
this  new  machine  properly,  he  is  sent  along 
to  a  full-grown  one,  equipped  with  a  25- 
horse-power  motor.  In  this  he  can  get  up  a 
few  feet.  Then  he  does  some  straight  line 
work  until  he  is  sent  along  to  the  next  class, 
which  trains  in  a  machine  that  will  get  up 
about  fifty  feet.  Now  he  begins  to  get  the 
feel  of  the  air.  He  is  perfected  in  this  work 
until  he  is  easy  doing  it,  and  his  confidence 
begins  to  come.  For  his  next  step,  he  is 
given  a  6-cylinder,  45-horse-power  machine. 
In  this  he  branches  out  a  bit,  doing  more 
straight  lines,  and  learns  to  turn.  He  also 
does  figure  eights,  and  gets  up  to  about  three 
hundred  feet. 


TRAINING  IN  AVIATION.  CORPS    41 

Now  you  think  you  are  sure  some  aviator, 
and  they  put  you  into  a  50-horse-power 
plane.  It's  five  hundred  feet  up  for  you 
then,  and  you  practise  doing  spirals  with 
the  motor  stopped.  The  last  stage  in  the 
proceedings  is  an  80-horse-power  machine 
where  you  train  until  you  go  for  your  mili- 
tary license. 

The  test  for  your  license  consists  of  one 
voyage  in  a  straight  line  to  a  specified  point 
and  return,  about  100  miles  in  all.  Then, 
after  that,  you  do  a  triangle  of  200  miles, 
passing  two  specified  points.  Your  next 
stunt  is  to  stay  one  hour  at  above  7,000  feet 
elevation.  This  terminates  your  training 
for  a  military  license.  If  the  man  who  has 
done  this  successfully  proves  also  to  be  an 
apt  flyer  he  is  picked  for  a  fighting  pilot.  If 
not,  he  is  sent  out  on  a  two-seater  which  is 
slower  and  easier  to  fly.  If  chosen  for  a 
fighter,  he  is  trained  on  the  rapid  machines 
and  when  perfected  is  sent  to  the  acrobatic 
school  where  they  are  taught  all  sorts  of 
stunts,  such  as  looping,  vrilleor,  tailwing 


42  "EN  LAIR!" 

slips,  and  all  the  modern  stunts.  This  train- 
ing is  very  essential,  for  it  enables  an  aviator 
to  protect  himself  in  combat. 

Now  comes  the  fighting  part  of  your  train- 
ing. Each  man,  as  soon  as  he  is  fit,  is  sent  on 
to  the  shooting  school  where  they  shoot  at  a 
moving  target  which  is  towed  by  an  armored 
motor  boat  at  fifty  miles  per  hour,  also  he  is 
trained  to  shoot  at  small  balloons  and  at 
moving  pictures.  Here  he  uses  the  same 
type  machine  which  is  used  at  the  front. 
When  he  is  perfected  here  he  is  sent  to  the 
superior  ecole  de  perfectionment,  which  is  lo- 
cated in  the  army  zone.  From  there  he  is 
sent  on  to  the  front.  And  I  assure  you  these 
men  are  capable  of  defending  themselves. 
This  course  requires  about  six  months. 

All  the  training  for  the  first  three  months 
is  done  on  monoplanes,  no  double  controls 
being  used  as  the  men  are  learning  alone. 
They  get  to  go  gradually  and  have  much 
more  confidence,  and  turn  out  to  be  much 
better  pilots.  Both  systems  have  been  tried, 
but  this  is  by  far  the  better.    We  did  not  get 


TRAINING  IN  AVIATION  CORPS    43 

the  advantage  of  this  modern  training  as  it 
did  not  exist  in  our  days. 

Bill  Thaw  and  I  were  assigned  to  an  esca- 
drille,  the  regular  formation  of  which  con- 
sisted of  six  machines.  They  were  rigged  up 
so  as  to  require  twelve  men,  six  pilots  and 
six  observers,  one  of  each  for  each  of  the  ma- 
chines. Of  course  these  machines  weren't 
what  we  have  to-day.  As  a  matter  of  fact 
they  took  about  one  hour  to  climb'  to  six 
thousand  feet  and  were  equipped  with  a  ma- 
chine gun.  We  also  carried  four  thousand 
arrows,  which  were  made  fast  on  the  landing 
chassis  in  cases  that  could  be  opened  by  a 
lever  by  the  observer.  We  found  that  they 
were  very  efficient  against  troops  or  convoys 
on  the  roads. 

I  went  immediately  to  St.  Cyr,  which  was 
the  headquarters  of  those  days.  Thaw  fol- 
lowed a  short  time  later,  and  after  a  few 
days  Jimmy  Bach  joined  us. 

Upon  my  arrival  at  St.  Cyr,  I  had  no  pa- 
pers of  any  sort.  I  went  directly  to  the  Com- 
mander's office  and  he  asked  me  who  I  was. 


44  "EN.  LAIR!" 

So  I  told  him  that  I  was  an  aviator.  He 
looked  through  his  papers  and  said  he  had 
no  record  of  me. 

"It  is  not  my  fault.  I  am  here." 
"All  right,"  he  said,  and  put  my  name  on 
the  books.  I  was  sent  out  to  the  store-room, 
rigged  out  with  a  complete  outfit,  which 
none  of  the  rest  of  the  boys  were  fortunate 
enough  to  get.  That  is  the  result  of  being 
the  fast  talker.  And  at  that  time  there  was 
not  as  much  organization  in  the  French  Fly- 
ing Corps  as  there  soon  was. 

We  started  training  on  Caudrons.  These 
machines  were  used  for  regulating  artillery 
fire  and  reconnoitering  work.  They  were 
fair,  not  very  speedy,  but  good  climbers  and 
good  for  doing  stunts.  Owing  to  a  slight 
mishap  I  was  transferred  to  Avor,  one  of 
the  largest  training  camps  in  France.  Thaw 
remained  in  St.  Cyr.  I  flew  a  Farman  bi- 
plane here.  We  progressed  very  slowly, 
owing  to  the  shortage  of  machines.  Many 
amusing  incidents  happened  to  us  here;  but 
very  few  were  fatal.     Such  things  as  one 


TRAINING  IN  AVIATION  CORPS    45 

machine  landing  on  top  of  another  and  run- 
ning into  the  hangars.  Turning  over  was  a 
daily  occurrence  and,  strange  to  say,  it  was 
always  the  fault  of  the  machine  according 
to  the  young  flyer. 

One  of  the  most  amusing  spectacles  that 
I  witnessed  was  a  fellow  on  a  roller.  That 
is  a  machine  that  cannot  fly.  The  motor 
stopped  quite  a  way  from  the  hangars.  So 
he  decided  to  start  it  himself.  He  climbed 
on  the  machine  and  started  the  motor.  The 
machine  started  off  so  quickly  that  he  did 
not  have  time  to  get  in,  and  it  made  directly 
for  the  hangars.  Then  it  changed  directions 
just  before  arriving.  It  proceeded  to  run 
all  over  the  field,  causing  everybody  to  run 
high  until  it  finally  ended  up  by  running 
into  a  hangar  and  doing  about  ten  thousand 
dollars  damage  to  machines  that  were  on  the 
inside. 


CHAPTER  V 

THE    LAFAYETTE    ESCADRILLE 

Bill  Thaw  was  the  first  of  us  to  get  oft 
to  the  front,  but  I  was  there  soon  afterwards. 
Then  it  was  that  our  real  stunts  began,  and 
they  eame  thick  and  fast  as  soon  as  the 
weather  permitted. 

Our  organization,  which  was  first  known 
as  the  American  Escadrille,  was  due  to  Nor- 
man Prince  and  no  one  else,  in  my  opinion. 
We  continued  to  call  it  the  American  Esca- 
drille until  the  American  Ambassador,  Mr. 
Sharpe,  asked  us  to  change  the  name.  He 
feared  that  our  Government  would  object 
to  the  use  of  the  name  American.  Then  it 
was  called  the  Lafayette  Escadrille.  All 
Americans  were  sent  to  this  escadrille,  and 
we  fought  together,  never  being  split  up  to 
fight  in  sections. 

46 


sg8 

£     .£ 


O 

z 

Si 

Z    2  = 


u    -p 


^hJ 


THE  LAFAYETTE  ESCADRILLE   47 

Thaw  at  first  joined  an  escadrille  near 
Lunevielle  called  the  C  46.  Bill  spent  about 
a  year  there,  was  made  a  sub-lieutenant  and 
was  mentioned  in  the  Army  Orders.  In 
April,  1915,  Norman  Prince,  Elliot  Cowden 
and  Curtiss  came  over.  They  had  heard  of 
Thaw,  Bach  and  myself,  who  were  in  the 
Flying  Corps,  and  came  over  to  join.  That 
was  the  beginning  of  the  Lafayette  Esca- 
drille. 

Very  soon  Bach,  Prince,  Cowden,  Curtiss 
and  myself  were  sent  to  Pau  and  put  on 
Bleriot  monoplanes.  Prince  was  the  first  to 
finish,  but  he  waited  for  Cowden  and  Cur- 
tiss, who  were  going  on  Voisin  bombarding 
machines.  The  three  went  to  Avor  to  train. 
Bach  and  I  stayed  at  Pau,  as  we  could  not  go 
on  the  Voisins.  We  continued  to  train  on 
Bleriots,  Morans  and  Caudrons  until  we 
were  sent  to  the  General  Reserve  near  Paris. 
We  continued  our  training  on  Caudrons 
there  until  we  were  detailed  to  train  observ- 
ers for  artillery  work  in  the  region  of  Paris. 
This  was  very  interesting.     Dummy  bat- 


48  "£#  LAIR!" 

teries  were  placed  in  different  spots.  We 
would  take  the  men  and  fly  over  as  the  men 
located  the  batteries  and  marked  them  on 
their  maps.  We  amused  ourselves  at  this 
for  a  time.  We  were  then  asked  to  go  on 
the  Nieuports,  the  first  fighting  machines 
brought  out.  Bach  and  I  had  the  distinc- 
tion of  being  two  of  the  first  twenty  Nieu- 
port  flyers  in  France.  The  Nieuport  was 
considered  a  very  dangerous  and  difficult 
machine  to  fly,  owing  to  its  small  wing 
spread.  We  found  them  excellent,  and  more 
stable  than  any  machine  we  had  yet  used. 
Bach  and  I  got  along  fine  and  were  soon  off 
with  an  escadrille  of  Nieuports,  the  N  38,  in 
Champagne,  near  Chalons  sur  Marne. 

In  the  meantime  Prince  and  Cowden  had 
gone  to  the  V.B.103  in  the  north  of  France. 
Curtiss  was  left  behind,  owing  to  physical 
defects.  He  had  quite  an  amusing  experi- 
ence while  training  at  Avor.  He  was  a 
blond,  rather  tall  and  wore  glasses,  a  slight 
German  resemblance.  (I  mean  no  offense 
to  the  man.)     While  on  a  cross-country  trip 


THE  LAFA  YETTE  ESCADRILLE   49 

his  machine  took  fire,  as  they  frequently  did. 
He  was  forced  to  land  near  a  village  and 
started  throwing  dirt  on  the  fire.  When  the 
peasants  arrived  they  took  him  for  a  Ger- 
man, and,  as  he  could  speak  very  little 
French,  he  was  taken  to  the  village  jail  and 
held  until  Prince  came  to  his  rescue  two  days 
later.  Since  then  I  have  not  heard  of  him. 
Prince  did  some  long-distance  bombard- 
ments, as  did  Cowden.  He  was  credited 
with  bringing  down  a  Boche  on  one  of  these 
flights.  They  both  received  the  Croix  de 
Guerre. 

Bach  and  I  were  in  Champagne  with  Cap- 
tain Bouche,  one  of  the  finest  Frenchmen  I 
ever  have  known.  He  did  as  much  flying, 
if  not  more,  than  any  man  in  the  French 
Aviation.  Lieutenant  D.  Harcourt,  another 
fine  man  with  whom  I  spent  a  year,  later  be- 
came the  Commandant  of  the  escadrille. 
Lieutenant  Harteaux  was  also  one  of  my 
comrades.  He  has  since  brought  down 
twenty-two  Boches.  Bertin,  who  is  one  of 
the  oldest  flyers  in  France,  Sergeant  Mangot, 


50  "EN  L'AIRr 

who  was  taken  prisoner  with  Bach,  Adjutant 
Bayer,  who  was  killed  during  the  Battle  of 
Verdun — all  belonged  to  the  escadrille. 

Our  work  consisted  in  reconnoitering 
twice  daily;  sometimes  we  went  as  far  as 
sixty  miles  back  of  the  German  lines,  kept 
tab  on  all  movements  of  troops,  activity  on 
the  railroads,  concentration  of  material  and 
any  new  earthworks — everything  that  was 
going  on.  We  also  had  two  barrages  a  day 
to  do.  That  consists  of  patroling  the  lines 
to  keep  the  German  fliers  from  regulating 
their  artillery  fire.  This  work  was  very  in- 
teresting, as  we  found  a  number  of  Germans 
and  fixed  them  plenty.  We  also  did  photo- 
graphing. The  artillery  fire  is  regulated  by 
two-seated  machines  equipped  with  wireless 
capable  of  sending  up  to  seven  miles.  The 
machine  doing  the  regulating  generally  gets 
over  the  objective.  About  the  third  shot  will 
hit  the  target,  after  they  have  received  our 
wireless. 

Aviators  all  keep  an  official  book,  in  which 
we  record  every  flight.     This  book  is  in- 


rz 


c 
u 

s  .a 

fa  u 

pi  .5 

—  <* 

<  *5 


<u 


^ 


THE  LAFAYETTE  ESCADRILLE   51 

spected  monthly,  stamped  and  signed  by  the 
Commander.  I  think  I  can  give  the  best  idea 
of  our  work  by  quoting  some  entries  from 
my  book. 

In  Champagne,  before  preparation  for  at- 
tacks of  September,  1915: 

September  7th.  Reconnoissance,  Lieu- 
tenant Amrich,  observer,  depart  8  a.m.,  re- 
turn 10  a.m.  Route,  Dontrien  Pont  Forgere 
Perthe  Bethneyville  and  return.  Very  heav- 
ily shelled  over  Pont  Forgere;  nothing  of 
importance  signaled.  Maximum  height, 
3,400  meters  or  11,100  feet;  duration  one 
hour  and  fifty-one  minutes. 

September  8th.  Same  reconnoissance, 
nothing  signaled;  duration,  one  hour  and 
fifty  minutes. 

September  9th.  Reconnoissance.  Lieu- 
tenant Bonnvay,  observer;  route  Souain, 
Sommepy,  Senide,  Leffincourt,  Frinse,  June- 
ville  Bethneyville,  Aubrive.  Duration,  two 
hours  and  seven  minutes.  Height,  3,400 
meters. 

September  1  oth.    Barrage,  my  mechanic  as 


52  "EN  LAIR!" 

gunner.  Met  a  German  Aviatik  over  Mour- 
mellon;  attacked  him  and  forced  him  down 
into  his  lines.  Duration  two  hours;  height 
2,600  meters. 

September  13th.  Reconnoissance  with 
Lieutenant  Amrich  as  observer.  Had  a  shell 
explode  near  us  at  3,200  meters  making  sev- 
eral holes  in  our  machine,  nothing  serious. 
Duration  two  hours  and  ten  minutes. 
Height  3,200  meters.    Weather  good. 

September  21st.  Reconnoissance  with 
Captain  Bouche  as  observer. 

Here  we  had  an  exciting  adventure.  We 
received  a  shell  very  close  and  had  a  piece 
of  it  weighing  about  two  pounds  stick  in  be- 
tween the  elevator  and  the  fixed  surface, 
making  it  impossible  for  me  to  move  the  com- 
mands. Thanks  to  the  wonderful  construc- 
tion of  my  Nieuport  we  were  able  to  come 
down  safely  and  made  a  good  landing.  The 
duration  of  this  flight  was  two  hours,  twelve 
minutes,  and  our  height  3,600  meters.  That 
same  evening  I  broke  the  altitude  record  for 
a  Nieuport  with  passenger  and  all  equip- 


THE  LAFA  YETTE  ESCADRILLE   53 

ment  aboard,  making  4,200  meters  or  14,100 
feet. 

The  anti-aircraft  gun  has  been  perfected 
so  that  at  the  present  time  they  are  capable 
of  shooting  up  to  about  33,000  feet.  These 
guns  are  mounted  on  a  table  similar  to  a 
railroad  turntable.  The  bottom  of  this  turn- 
table is  a  mirror.  Above  that  is  a  sort  of  a 
telescopic  affair  by  which  they  locate  ma- 
chines in  the  air.  They  do  not  have  to  keep 
a  watch  in  the  air  for  machines.  As  soon  as 
a  machine  comes  within  shooting  range  of 
the  gun,  the  machine  will  be  shown  in  the 
mirror.  They  have  an  instrument  by  which 
they  get  your  exact  altitude,  also  an  instru- 
ment by  which  they  find  the  number  of  feet 
you  are  traveling  per  second.  Consequently, 
they  time  their  shell  accordingly,  which  is  a 
sharpener  used  for  any  aircraft  work,  and 
sometimes  at  twenty  thousand  feet  they  can 
make  you  wish  you  were  at  home.  Our  small 
machines  are  very  difficult  to  detect  in  the 
air,  as  we  only  have  a  little  more  than 
twenty-two  feet  from  wing-tip  to  wing-tip. 


54  "EN  UAIR!" 

They  pass  out  of  sight  at  about  ten  thousand 
feet.  That  is,  out  of  sight  of  the  naked  eye. 
Other  artillery  has  also  been  perfected  in 
proportion.  We  have  guns  ranging  from 
the  French  75's,  which  is  a  three-inch  gun, 
up  to  the  500-millimeter,  which  is  a  twenty- 
inch  gun.  These  guns  are  located  anywhere 
from  700  yards  up  to  six  and  eight  miles 
back  of  the  trenches.  They  are  capable  of 
shooting  from  six  to  twenty-three  miles.  A 
long-range  gun  is  not  the  big  caliber  gun. 
Our  long-range  guns  are  280  millimeter,  or 
eleven  and  one-fifth  inches.  These  guns  can 
do  very  active  work  at  twenty-one  and 
twenty-two  miles.  They  are  all  directed  by 
airplane  and  their  accurateness  is  something 
beyond  imagination.  They  can  drop  a  shell 
in  a  thousand-yard  circle  at  twenty-one 
miles.  They  concentrate  for  bombardments 
at  present  time  from  six  to  ten  thousand  of 
these  guns  on  a  front  of  five  to  six 
miles.  These  bombardments  are  carried  out 
methodically.  The  first  work  is  for  the  small 
guns,  for  destruction  of  wire  entanglements 


THE  LAFA  YETTE  ESCADRILLE   55 

in  front  of  the  German  trenches.  They  use 
a  special  shell  for  this  work,  which  explodes 
about  six  inches  from  the  ground.  They  also 
use  something  similar  to  chain  shot,  such  as 
were  used  in  Civil  War  days.  They  are  two 
guns  about  twelve  feet  apart  that  fire  solid 
shots.  These  shots  are  connected  by  about 
three  good,  big,  healthy  chains.  They  pass 
over  No  Man's  Land  two  to  three  feet  from 
the  ground,  sweeping  out  all  the  wire  as  they 
go  along.  After  the  wire  has  been  destroyed, 
in  about  two  hours,  they  begin  work  on  the 
German  trenches,  with  the  larger  calibered 
guns.  This  will  generally  take  about  three 
hours ;  all  this  work  is  being  observed  by  air- 
plane. When  they  are  sufficiently  demol- 
ished, that  fire  is  stopped  and  the  curtain 
barrage  begins.  This  fire  starts  about  sev- 
enty-five yards  back  of  the  German  trenches. 
The  object  is  to  keep  the  Germans  from 
bringing  up  re-enforcements,  and  also  to 
keep  the  ones  that  are  left  from  getting 
away;  when  our  soldiers  take  the  German 
trenches  they  get  all  the  Germans  that  are 
left. 


CHAPTER  VI 

FLYING   AND    FIGHTING    IN    CHAMPAGNE 

My  real  work  was  now  to  begin,  as  the 
great  offensive  of  1915  in  Champagne  was 
on.  I  got  my  chance,  the  thing  I  had  been 
waiting  for  since  the  days  I  was  rolling 
around  the  ground  in  a  clipped-wing  ma- 
chine. 

The  weather  was  cloudy  the  second  day 
of  the  offensive.  Everything  was  in  motion 
and  we  all  knew  what  was  coming.  A  pilot 
was  asked  for,  some  one  who  could  do  a 
reconnoissance  at  low  altitude.  I  volun- 
teered with  Lieutenant  Manigal.  We  went 
over  the  enemy  lines  at  3,000  feet,  and  were 
immediately  attacked  by  machine  guns  from 
below.  We  received  a  few  bullets  in  the 
machine,  and  also  were  attacked  by  several 
Boches.    We  had  the  satisfaction  of  know- 

56 


FLYING  IN  CHAMPA GNE       57 

ing  that  we  located  German  re-enforcements, 
and  they  were  bombarded  and  forced  to  re- 
treat. It  made  a  most  interesting  sight.  We 
could  see  the  soldiers  fighting  in  the  open 
country,  although  the  smoke  from  the  artil- 
lery made  this  difficult  at  times.  We  were 
complimented  by  our  General  for  this,  as  our 
information  proved  to  be  very  valuable. 
The  duration  of  our  flight  was  one  hour  and 
thirty-nine  minutes,  and  our  height  1,000 
meters. 

This  reconnoitering  work  is  often  very 
dangerous,  and  several  of  my  pals  were  made 
prisoners  while  doing  it.  You  go  far  back 
of  the  German  lines  and  risk  being  made 
prisoner  because  of  possible  motor  trouble, 
and  also  by  being  attacked  by  German  air 
men  in  groups.  They  try  to  cut  off  your  re- 
treat. The  anti-aircraft  guns  are  shooting  at 
you  continually  and  you  are  forced  to  go  to 
certain  localities  to  see  if  any  changes  are 
being  made  and  to  note  all  movements  of 
troops  and  material.  A  part  of  your  work  is 
to  photograph  the  objectives  designated  by 
headquarters. 


58  "EN  LAIR!" 

Our  general  programme  was  something 
like  this  : 

You  are  given  a  fixed  portion  of  the  front 
to  cover,  and  receive  your  orders  before  leav- 
ing, if  there  are  any  special  points  where  an 
attack  is  going  on,  you  leave  your  field  and 
climb  until  you  reach  the  lines.  Generally 
you  are  at  10,000  to  14,000  feet  by  this  time. 
You  continue  to  climb  as  you  patrol  your 
section  of  the  lines;  you  keep  a  close  watch 
for  Germans  above  and  below. 

We  generally  climbed  up  to  18,000  feet  or 
more,  and  continued  to  watch  until  we  were 
attacked  or  saw  a  German  below.  You  slow 
down  your  motor,  try  your  gun,  and  down 
you  go.  If  there  is  more  than  one  enemy 
plane,  pick  out  the  nearest  and  go  after  him. 
You  continue  this  for  two  and  a  half  hours, 
when  you  return  to  the  French  field  where 
you  make  out  a  report  of  all  that  has  passed. 
Now  you  are  free,  you  may  go  where  you 
please,  until  your  next  turn.  In  bad 
weather  we  play  games,  read  and  gamble. 
Mostly   gamble.      Poker    and    bridge    are 


O 

1-4 


FLYING  IN  CHAMPAGNE       59 

the   two   leading   pastimes   of   that   kind. 

One  morning  about  1 1  o'clock  a  German 
aeroplane  came  down  in  volplane  and 
landed  on  one  of  our  aviation  fields.  The 
pilot,  a  lieutenant  speaking  French  per- 
fectly, came  up  to  the  captain  commanding 
the  escadrille,  and  saluted.  He  asked  for 
the  loan  of  some  gasoline,  saying  that  they 
had  lost  all  of  their  gas  owing  to  a  leak,  but 
if  the  captain  would  be  so  kind  as  to  loan 
some  they  would  continue  their  journey.  Of 
course  they  were  made  prisoners.  This  of- 
ficer told  me  at  once  on  seeing  me  that  I  was 
an  American.  He  said  that  he  had  wintered 
in  Palm  Beach.  He  seemed  to  think  it  nice 
of  me  to  help  the  French.  On  another  oc- 
casion a  fur  glove  was  dropped  in  our  lines. 
A  few  days  later  there  came  another  glove 
with  a  note,  saying,  that  the  finder  might  as 
well  have  the  pair. 

I  brought  down  a  sassy  German  several 
days  later.  I  had  followed  him  for  some 
time,  but  he  did  not  see  me.  He  was  busy 
in  finding  a  suitable  landing  place  and  his 


60  "EN  LAIR!" 

pilot  was  wounded.  They  landed  and  the 
observer  helped  get  the  pilot  out.  I  landed 
very  near  him,  about  twenty  yards  away  and 
got  out.  When  I  walked  over  to  them  they 
still  did  not  notice  me.  Just  as  I  arrived  the 
captain-observer  was  lighting  a  match  to  set 
fire  to  the  machine.  I  only  had  an  instant 
to  think,  so  I  hit  him  under  the  jaw  and  out 
he  went.  Very  soon  a  number  of  French 
soldiers  arrived  and  the  two  Germans  were 
taken  away.  This  officer  was  highly  in- 
sulted because  I  struck  him  with  my  fist.  I 
could  not  impress  upon  him  that  I  did  it  out 
of  politeness,  as  I  could  have  shot  him  just 
as  easy,  but  he  could  not  see  it  that  way.  I 
got  into  the  German  machine,  which  was 
one  of  the  latest  type  of  Albatross,  and  flew 
back  to  my  own  field.  They  gave  me  two 
days'  leave  and  I  flew  to  KiefT  in  this  same 
machine. 

During  the  better  part  of  September  we 
found  it  almost  impossible  to  go  out,  owing 
to  rain  and  low  clouds.  I  took  a  spy 
into  the  German  lines  with  orders  to  leave 


FLYING  IN  CHAMPAGNE       61 

him,  and  had  a  very  narrow  escape  when  I 
returned  for  him  later.  The  Germans 
caught  him  and  forced  him  to  reveal  our  sig- 
nals. They  were  waiting  for  me  to  return. 
When  I  was  about  fifty  feet  from  the  ground 
they  started  firing  at  me  with  machine  guns, 
which  they  had  hidden  in  some  trees.  My 
machine  was  badly  punctured  and  I  received 
a  slight  wound,  but  managed  to  escape  and 
return  safely. 

Sometimes  we  would  take  carrier  pigeons 
over  to  our  men.  For  the  work  we  had  bas- 
kets and  parachutes,  and  would  go  down  to 
about  one  hundred  feet.  Then  we  would 
drop  the  baskets  at  fixed  points. 

A  little  later  I  went  to  Paris  for  a  new  ma- 
chine, and  almost  missed  ever  coming  back. 
I  left  Paris  at  3  o'clock  in  the  afternoon  to 
return  to  my  escadrille.  It  was  cloudy,  but 
the  clouds  were  only  about  four  hundred 
feet  high,  so  I  continued  on  my  way.  About 
forty  miles  out  of  Paris,  I  struck  a  terrible 
storm  of  wind,  hail  and  rain,  but  decided  to 
go  on.    It  was  impossible  to  see  the  ground 


62  "EN  LAIR!" 

and  I  did  not  have  my  compass.  So  I  de- 
cided to  have  a  look  at  the  terrain.  I  started 
down  and  dropped  to  within  fifty  feet  of  the 
ground,  but  could  see  nothing  that  looked 
natural.  Finally  I  saw  a  convoy  on  the  road 
and  went  along  slowly  to  see  what  it  was.  I 
discovered  that  it  was  German  Artillery.  I 
turned  around,  but  did  not  know  in  what  di- 
rection they  were  going.  That  decided  me  to 
keep  on  at  a  very  low  altitude.  I  did  so  and 
soon  saw  a  big  gun  in  position.  I  took  the 
direction  in  which  it  was  pointed  and  found 
our  trenches.    I  was  pretty  warmly  greeted. 

I  landed  again  farther  on  and  spent  the 
night  in  a  farmhouse,  and  I  sure  felt  relieved 
to  get  back. 

It  was  on  December  18th,  in  a  fight  near 
Maschalt,  that  I  got  eighteen  bullets,  but 
the  result  of  it  was  that  I  missed  the  Boche. 
So,  on  January  1st,  1916,  they  sent  me  to 
Avor  for  a  rest.  I  put  in  my  time  there  as  an 
instructor,  but  did  more  flying  than  I  had 
done  at  the  front. 


RESULTS    OF    NIGHT   FLYING 

An  English  machine  landed  in  a  tree  and  stuck  there.     No  one  injured. 


FLYING  IN  CHAMPAGNE      63 

Victor  Chapman  was  one  of  my  pupils  and 
I  liked  him  very  much.  I  spent  two  months 
at  Avor.  During  the  bad  weather  it  was 
dull,  for  with  no  flying  to  do  one  gets  bored. 


CHAPTER  VII 

FIGHTING   THE    BOCHE   AT   VERDUN 

Work  at  the  Avor  training  camp  went  on 
day  after  day,  and  for  us  instructors  there 
was  more  work  than  we  had  at  the  front. 
However,  it's  very  different  training  a  bunch 
of  lumbering  recruits  from  the  real  game, 
and  that's  what  any  man  wants.  By  Spring 
my  rest  was  sufficient  and  I  was  getting  good 
and  tired  of  the  alleged  vacation  they  were 
giving  me.  About  the  middle  of  April  I  re- 
ceived my  orders  to  start  back  to  the  front 
for  active  service  again.  So,  on  April  20th, 
1916,  I  shook  the  dust,  only  it  was  mud,  of 
the  Avor  camp  off  my  feet. 

When  I  rejoined  the  American  boys  they 
were  at  Luxeuil  les  Bains,  and  I  found  some 
new  ones.  Our  first  escadrille,  or  air  squad- 
ron, was  organized  with  the  following  men : 

64 


FIGHTING  AT  VERDUN       65 

Prince,  Chapman,  Thaw,  Cowden,  Rock- 
well, McConnell,  Captain  Thenault,  Lieu- 
tenant de  Laage  de  Mienx,  and  myself. 

Most  of  these  boys  have  given  their  lives 
for  the  cause,  God  bless  'em,  and  I  am  proud 
that  they  were  my  pals.  We  were  installed 
in  a  villa  there  at  Luxeuil,  and  had  to  wait 
some  time  for  our  machines.  We  were  at- 
tached to  Captain  Happe,  one  of  the  famous 
bombardiers.  You  get  some  idea  of  what 
he  had  done  when  I  tell  you  that  he  had  lost 
some  thirty-five  pilots  that  had  gone  to  pro- 
tect him.  He  was  always  lucky  and  escaped. 
He  would  talk  to  the  boys,  and  tell  us  what 
to  expect.  Every  one  of  us  was  willing  to 
take  a  chance,  which  seemed  to  make  him 
think  a  good  deal  of  us.  Captain  Happe 
took  only  volunteers;  he  wouldn't  have  a 
man  who  went  only  because  he  had  to  go. 

Our  first  interview  with  Captain  Happe 
made  a  deep  impression  on  some  of  the  boys. 
We  walked  into  his  office  as  he  was  putting 
eight  war  crosses  into  little  boxes.  He  cor- 
dially remarked: 


66  "EN  LAIR!" 

"I  am  sending  these  to  the  families  of  the 
eight  men  I  had  killed  in  my  last  bombard- 
ment." 

I  guess  some  of  the  boys  commenced  to 
think  that  very  soon  their  families  would  be 
receiving  a  small  box  also.  But  we  were 
very  lucky  while  with  Captain  Happe  be- 
cause we  only  lost  two  men.  They  were 
Norman  Prince  and  Kiffin  Rockwell,  both 
great  fighters. 

The  machines  finally  arrived,  and  then  we 
started  out  to  get  the  young  fellows  in  shape. 
Our  first  patrol  was  on  April  13th.  The 
whole  escadrille  went  out.  Our  orders  were 
to  patrol  between  the  Swiss  frontier  and  Cer- 
nay,  about  fifty  miles  east.  We  flew  at  dif- 
ferent heights,  from  12,000  to  15,000  feet. 
Jimmy  McConnell  went  the  highest,  and  he 
got  lost.  Jimmy  was  way  over  in  Switzer- 
land, and  the  following  day  we  were  notified 
to  keep  out  by  the  Swiss  Government.  The 
next  day  we  flew  for  the  moving  pictures. 
Around  April  16th,  Kiffin  Rockwell  brought 
down  his  first  Boche  ryenr  Thann.    It  was  a 


-f  > 


FIGHTING  AT  VERDUN       67 

singular  coincidence  that  his  enemy  fell  al- 
most in  the  same  spot  where  Rockwell  him- 
self lost  his  life  eight  months  later.  On 
April  20th,  we  received  orders  to  leave  at 
once  for  Verdun. 

It  was  late  in  the  afternoon  when  we  ar- 
rived at  Verdun,  and  we  were  immediately 
installed  in  our  new  quarters  at  Bar  le  Due. 
The  escadrille  was  put  into  action  at  once, 
and  I  can't  say  that  our  first  sortie  was  any- 
thing excellent.  We  all  went  grouped, 
under  Captain  Thenault,  and  I  flew  next  to 
him,  about  fifty  yards  to  his  right.  He  had 
told  us  not  to  attack  until  he  gave  the  sig- 
nal. Then  we  were  to  dive  on  the  Germans. 
We  had  passed  over  three  of  their  machines 
already,  and  we  continued  on  into  their  lines. 
Just  over  Etain,  some  twelve  miles  inside  the 
German  lines,  we  saw  six  or  more  Boches. 
The  captain  started  to  dive,  and  I  also  went 
down  rapidly  and  picked  out  a  German, 
thinking  my  comrades  were  all  there.  But 
Captain  Thenault  had  only  come  down  a 
short  distance  and  pulled  up.    He  signaled 


68  "EN  LAIR!" 

to  me  that  the  others  were  not  following. 
So  there  I  was,  left  alone  with  Huns,  not  a 
very  pleasant  situation  I  assure  you.  I  used 
up  my  ammunition  quickly,  as  I  only  had 
131  shells,  and  that  didn't  last  long  with  a 
gun  shooting  650  per  minute.  I  did  all  the 
stunts  that  I  could  think  of  and  finally  went 
down  as  though  I  was  hit.  The  Germans, 
thinking  I  was  going  to  land,  left  me  for  a 
minute.  Then  I  turned  and  off  I  went. 
With  the  slight  start  that  I  had  I  managed 
to  escape.  We  commenced  the  fight  at  12,- 
000  feet  and  finished  at  1,800  feet.  I  ar- 
rived O.K.  after  one  of  the  closest  shaves  I 
ever  had. 

On  the  same  afternoon  I  brought  down  a 
German  at  Malancourt,  near  Verdun.  In 
this  encounter  we  fought  at  15,000  feet.  I 
killed  the  Boche  pilot  and  the  whole  outfit 
fell ;  nothing  was  left  of  machine  or  men.  In 
this  fighting  around  Verdun  every  trip 
meant  a  fight,  and  a  good  stiff  one.  There 
were  a  great  many  German  planes,  while  the 
French  had  only  a  few  good  fighting  ma- 
chines. 


FIGHTING  AT  VERDUN       69 

I  encountered  Captain  Boelke  daily.  He 
had  a  Fokker  fighter  which  was  painted  black 
with  white  crosses.  The  rest  of  the  German 
machines  were  white  with  black  crosses. 
Sometimes  Boelke  and  I  would  do  stunts  for 
one  another.  I  found  that  it  was  impossible 
to  attack  him,  so  I  kept  out  of  his  range. 
A  good  pilot  can  always  defend  himself  in  a 
single  combat  affair.  Boelke' s  pet  prey  were 
the  old  slow  Reglage  type  of  machine,  those 
that  could  not  protect  themselves. 

I  had  another  interesting  encounter  with 
a  Boche  on  May  18th.  I  followed  him  from 
over  the  forest  of  the  Argonne  as  far  as 
Nogent-sur-Seine,  but  I  never  could  arrive 
at  his  height  somehow.  He  was  always 
higher  than  my  machine  would  go.  At  last 
I  was  forced  to  land  on  account  of  running 
out  of  gasoline.  The  German  went  on,  and 
dropped  bombs  on  Epernay.  He  was  at 
least  17,000  feet  up.  Our  machines  at  that 
time  would  only  climb  to  about  15,000  feet. 
That  was  also  my  first  experience  of  having 
grenades  thrown  at  me.    When  one  is  lower 


70  "EN  LAIR!" 

than  the  enemy  machine  they  drop  these 
grenades  on  one.  The  explosion  is  regulated 
by  a  time  fuse ;  some  of  them  came  very  close 
to  me,  but  none  were  successful  in  hitting 
me. 

On  June  2nd,  fourteen  planes  came  over 
and  bombarded  Bar  le  Due.  I  was  alone  at 
the  field  at  the  time,  just  starting  out  on  pa- 
trol. I  happened  to  look  up;  some  Boche 
were  just  over  my  head.  As  soon  as  I  could 
get  my  machine  ready,  I  left  the  ground  and 
was  followed  shortly  afterwards  by  Victor 
Chapman  and  several  other  boys.  We  at- 
tacked the  Boche  and  brought  down  one. 
Victor  and  I  followed  them  and  I  assure  you 
we  made  it  very  uncomfortable  for  them. 
They  did  a  great  deal  of  havoc,  however. 
Seventy  people  were  killed  and  two  hundred 
wounded.  Bombs  fell  within  three  feet  of 
our  hangars.  On  June  16th,  the  same  thing 
occurred  again,  but  we  stopped  them  in  time, 
and  only  a  few  people  were  wounded.  On 
June  23rd,  there  were  many  combats,  for  the 
Germans  kept  up  their  furious  activity  in 
the  air  as  well  as  on  the  ground. 


FIGHTING  AT  VERDUN       71 

It  was  here  that  we  lost  one  of  our  best  and 
bravest  men,  Victor  Chapman.  The  com- 
bat occurred  just  to  the  north  of  Fort  Douau- 
mont.  Victor  was  engaged  with  six  or  seven 
German  machines  and  he  hadn't  a  chance. 
He  fought  to  the  last  inch  and  fell,  dying,  in- 
side the  German  lines.  Just  where,  I  don't 
know.  But  some  day  I  hope  to  find  his  grave 
and  pay  my  respects  to  one  of  the  bravest  of 
the  brave. 

A  little  later,  along  in  July  according  to 
the  record  in  my  official  Aviation  Corps  book, 
I  brought  down  my  second  Boche  plane. 
This  happened  over  Fort  de  Vaux.  It  wasn't 
really  much  of  a  fight,  for  I  don't  think  that 
he  saw  me  until  it  was  too  late.  On  July 
27th,  I  had  another  one  down  to  three  hun- 
dred feet,  but  he  escaped  as  I  ran  out  of  am- 
munition. 

We  suffered  big  losses  in  machines  with 
the  daily  combats.  At  last  the  new  ones 
came,  and  we  were  glad  to  discover  that  they 
were  of  a  new  model,  each  equipped  with  a 
liohorse-power  motor.    They  were  rigged 


72  "EN  LAIR!" 

up  for  effective  fighting,  too,  with  a  machine 
gun  shooting  through  the  propeller.  Best 
of  all,  they  had  a  band  of  one  thousand  cart- 
ridges. They  were  faster  and  better  climb- 
ers, and  could  make  about  1,000  to  1,300 
feet  per  minute,  with  a  speed  of  115  miles 
per  hour.  The  guns  on  these  machines  were 
timed  with  the  motor,  so  that  the  bullets  did 
not  hit  the  propeller.  This  very  simple  de- 
vice, which  never  gives  any  trouble,  was 
invented  by  a  mechanic  named  Alcyon. 

These  machine  guns  were  capable  of 
shooting  about  600  shots  per  minute.  The 
propeller  turns  over  at  the  rate  of  about 
1,650  revolutions  per  minute.  Conse- 
quently, with  the  two-bladed  propeller  that 
we  used,  the  propeller  blades  were  passing 
3,300  times  per  minute  in  front  of  the  muz- 
zle of  the  gun.  These  bullets  passed  be- 
tween the  blades  without  ever  hitting  them. 
We  used  for  this  air-fighting  what  is  known 
as  a  "cursing  bullet."  They  are  a  great  ad- 
vantage to  us,  as  we  see  every  one,  just 
where  it  goes.    They  look  like  small  electric 


GERMAN     AEROPLANE      BROUGHT     DOWN     NEAR     VERDUN, 
FALLING    IN    FIRST-LINE    TRENCHES 

See  remains  of  machine  on  parapet  of  trench,  wheels  with  crosses. 
Brought  down  by  Lieutenant  Dumas  (since  killed  in  combat)  and  Bert 
Hall. 


FIGHTING  AT  VERDUN       73 

lights  going  through  the  air,  leaving  a  trail 
of  blue  smoke  behind  them.  To  make  an 
enemy  machine  fall,  it  is  absolutely  neces- 
sary to  kill  the  flyer.  If  you  put  his  motor 
out  of  commission  he  planes  down  and  lands 
in  his  own  lines.  This  is  not  counted  as  a 
machine  brought  down.  As  we  are  supposed 
to  aim  our  guns  with  the  entire  machine,  it 
is  a  great  advantage  to  use  these  bullets,  and 
we  can  generally  put  them  where  we  want 
them. 

On  August  1st,  I  went  to  protect  Norman 
Prince  while  he  burned  a  captive  balloon. 
This  is  done  with  a  sort  of  sky  rocket,  three 
on  each  side  of  the  machine.  You  dive  head 
on  the  balloon,  and  when  you  are  within 
fifty  yards  of  it  you  press  a  button  which  ig- 
nites the  rockets.  They  are  rigged  to  burn 
for  600  feet,  so  if  one  of  them  struck  the  bal- 
loon it  went  up  in  smoke.  Norman  burned 
his  and  was  mentioned  in  the  Army  Orders. 
On  August  24th,  I  brought  down  another 
Boche  near  Etain,  and  on  the  28th,  I  brought 
down  another  that  burned  near  Fort  Douau- 
mont. 


74  "EN  L'AIR!" 

One  day  a  German  landed  in  our  lines 
near  Verdun.  As  everybody  knows,  the  first 
thing  to  do  is  to  destroy  your  machine  to 
keep  the  enemy  from  getting  it.  Generally 
this  is  done  by  fire.  But  in  this  case  the  Ger- 
man did  not  fire  it.  As  the  machine  was  be- 
ing examined,  we  found  a  sort  of  box  under- 
neath. When  asked  what  it  was,  the  Ger- 
man said  that  by  pulling  out  a  plug  in  the 
interior  it  would  make  a  contact;  there  was 
a  bomb  in  the  box  that  exploded  fifteen  sec- 
onds later  which  would  destroy  the  machine. 
We  asked  the  German  why  he  didn't  pull  the 
plug. 

"This  is  a  new  invention,  and  I'm  no 
fool,"  he  replied. 

During  my  service  at  Verdun  I  saw  many 
of  the  big  bombardments  which  were  ter- 
rible. They  are  grand  to  view  from  the  air. 
I  have  seen  smoke  up  to  12,000  feet.  The 
earth  was  one  mass  of  holes.  The  whole 
country  looked  like  a  sponge.  All  the  boys 
did  well  at  Verdun.  Thaw  brought  down 
two  Germans.     Lufbery   (who  had  joined 


FIGHTING  AT  VERDUN       75 

while  we  were  there  with  Hill,  Johnson  and 
Remesy)  got  four  or  five;  Lieutenant  de 
Laage,  one ;  Chapman,  five ;  Kiffin  Rockwell, 
five;  James  McConnell,  one;  Prince  and 
Cowden  one  each. 


CHAPTER  VIII 

THE    BEST   OF    SPORT AN.    AIR    SORTIE 

"Start  at  3  a.m.    You  are  to  go  alone." 

Every  man  in  this  war  has,  sooner  or  later, 
his  great  day.  This  was  to  be  mine,  al- 
though I  did  not  know  it  at  the  time  the  or- 
der was  given  the  night  before.  It  was  at 
Verdun  and  the  date,  according  to  my  diary, 
was  June  22nd. 

Fighting  had  been  going  on  around  Ver- 
dun without  interruption  day  and  night,  and 
many  of  the  French  aircraft  were  already 
victims  of  the  enemy  fire.  At  this  time,  as 
I  now  recall  it,  there  were  only  six  of  our 
aviators  in  shape  to  take  to  the  air  for  com- 
bat. 

Our  hangars  were  located  in  an  open  field 
eight  or  ten  miles  back  of  the  great  forts  and 

76 


AN  AIR  SORTIE  77 

front-line  trenches.  We  had  been  cruising 
constantly  for  days,  and  cruising  means  good 
steady  business,  each  man's  daily  patrol  last- 
ing about  two  and  a  half  hours.  It  was  our 
job  to  keep  away  the  enemy  aircraft,  to 
protect  the  French  photographers  who  went 
up  on  observation  and  topographical  duty, 
and  to  note  any  changes  in  the  German  dis- 
positions so  as  to  direct  and  correct  our  own 
artillery  fire.  All  of  us  were  in  trim  for  any 
kind  of  duty. 

My  orders  for  this  particular  day  were  not 
unlike  the  regular  routine.  It  was  cold  and 
pitch  dark  when  I  crawled  out  of  my  blan- 
kets at  2  o'clock,  which  was  really  l  o'clock, 
as  the  time  is  advanced  in  summer.  My 
breakfast,  like  the  others,  consisted  of  rolls 
and  coffee.  As  I  do  not  drink  coffee  I  con- 
centrated on  those  rolls. 

I  made  my  way  to  our  hangar  and  routed 
out  Leon,  my  mechanic.  In  five  minutes, 
with  Leon's  help,  for  it  is  something  of  a  job, 
I  got  into  my  leather  combination  and  boots, 
and  climbed  into  my  machine.  On  the  side 
boots,  and  climbed  into  my  machine.  On  the 


78  "EN  LAIR!" 

side  of  the  car  was  painted  in  large  letters: 

BERT 

My  machine  was  a  single-seated  Nieuport 
biplane,  driven  by  a  no-horse-power  Le 
Rhome  rotary  motor  of  nine  cylinders.  In 
this  type  of  engine  the  cylinders  revolve 
around  the  crank-shaft,  which  is  stationary. 
My  fighting  equipment  was  a  Vickers  ma- 
chine gun,  and  on  this  morning  I  carried 
l  ,000  rounds  of  ammunition. 

The  sides  and  upper  portions  of  the 
"Bert"  were  camoufle,  to  disguise  it  against 
the  Verdun  landscape.  These  decorations 
correspond  exactly  to  the  red  clay  of  the  soil 
and  the  green  of  the  country — large,  irregu- 
larly placed  spots  of  both  colors.  Under- 
neath, the  "Bert"  was  painted  sky-blue  and 
bore  the  French  insignia — blue,  white  and 
red  circles. 

An  air  sortie  at  dawn ! 

All  was  now  ready.  I  settled  myself  in 
the  seat  and  gave  a  once-over  to  everything 


AN  AIR  SORTIE  79 

as  best  I  could — more  by  feel  than  by  sight 
— as  it  was  still  dark.  The  machine  gun  was 
loaded  and  ready.  On  the  ground,  Leon  was 
still  puttering  about,  giving  a  last  touch  here 
and  there. 

"All  set!"  I  called  to  him  in  English. 

He  understood,  and  started  the  motor. 
The  blocks  were  still  before  the  wheels  of 
the  machine,  to  make  the  final  test  of  the 
motor.  It  purred  smoothly.  Then  I  gave 
the  order.  Leon  kicked  away  the  blocks. 
The  "Bert"  rolled  along  the  ground  for 
about  fifty  feet.  Then  I  turned  her  into  the 
wind  and  started  up. 

I  left  the  earth  in  darkness.  As  the  "Bert" 
shot  upward  I  entered  a  world  of  soft  light. 
Up  here  the  dawn  comes  first.  As  it  began 
to  illuminate  the  Eastern  sky,  I  pointed 
straight  into  it,  thrilled  and  quickened  by  its 
inspiration.  Soon  I  was  able  to  make  out  the 
wooded  rises  in  the  ground  and,  as  I  went 
on,  the  river  Meuse  became  visible,  seeming 
to  flow  out  of  the  Boche  lines.  Sometimes, 
at  this  hour,  the  mist  is  heavy,  making  it 


80  "EN  L'AIR!" 

necessary  to  wait  and  get  your  bearings. 
But  this  morning  I  was  not  held  up;  there 
was  nothing  to  stop  me  from  my  work  of 
concentrating  on  the  field  over  Forts  Douau- 
mont  and  Vaux  and  the  famous,  bloody 
"304."  The  motor  was  buzzing  along  in  fine 
shape  and  I  was  climbing  at  the  rate  of  1,300 
feet  a  minute.  The  red  old  sun  loomed  up 
before  me  and,  although  it  was  still  dark  be- 
low, things  began  to  get  clearer  but  smaller. 

A  shell  suddenly  burst  just  underneath 
the  "Bert,"  even  before  I  was  able  to  make 
out  the  enemy  positions.  The  smoke  was 
black,  so  I  knew  it  was  a  German  "Good 
morning"  meant  for  me.  Our  own  anti-air- 
craft shells  make  a  white  smoke. 

I  kept  on  ascending  and  very  soon  entered 
a  cloud,  one  of  those  beautiful  white  banks 
as  seen  from  the  ground.  It  wasn't  white, 
however — far  from  it.  As  I  dived  in  every- 
thing became  black;  I  couldn't  see  my  hand 
before  my  face.  The  motor,  which  makes 
racket  enough  at  all  times,  now  sounded  like 
a  continuous,  deafening  bombardment.    The 


Pi 

X 
H 

Z 

o 
a 

H 
X 
O 

o 
pq 

I     Q 

3 

ac  w 
u  > 

X 


AN  AIR  SORTIE  81 

cloud  vapor,  damp  and  thick,  shut  in  every 
particle  of  sound.  These  "pretty  white 
clouds"  have  no  silver  lining  for  the  avia- 
tor! 

Light  ahead  was  welcome,  and  I  emerged 
from  the  cloud  with  my  ears  tingling.  The 
sensation  is  very  much  as  if  corks  were  pop- 
ping inside  your  head  in  rapid  succession. 
The  wind  was  thirty  miles  an  hour,  or  per- 
haps a  little  more.  My  altimeter  registered 
5,000  meters,  or  approximately  16,500  feet 
up.  I  had  scarcely  got  into  the  open  again 
and  begun  to  search  the  landscape  when 
there  were  more  shells.  They  had  seen  me. 
I  discovered  that  I  was  now  directly  over  the 
German  positions. 

Naturally,  my  next  move  was  to  find  out 
if  there  were  any  enemy  aircraft  in  my  neigh- 
borhood. I  looked  all  around,  above,  and 
particularly  below,  for  that  is  the  danger 
quarter  in  combat.  I  kept  on  and,  when 
about  a  mile  inside  the  German  lines,  I  saw 
three  machines  far  below  me  which  had  just 
taken  to  the  air.     I  got  up  a  little  higher. 


82  "EN  LAIR!" 

They  seemed  to  turn  back,  then  one  of  them 
came  on  up.  Soon  all  three  were  headed  for 
me,  the  first  having  pulled  away  from  his 
comrades. 

I  picked  it  out  for  attack  and  maneuvered 
for  position,  eager  to  see  what  type  of  ma- 
chine it  was.  As  it  came  on  I  saw  a  fighting 
two-seater  canying  a  pilot  and  an  observer. 
I  managed  to  keep  above,  and  it  began  firing 
long  before  they  got  near  me.  That  is  poor 
tactics  and  I  did  not  mind.  Rip  went  a  hole 
in  one  of  my  wings,  and  then  I  did  mind. 
But  my  turn  was  coming !  I  opened  fire  but 
could  not  tell  if  my  bullets  were  going  into 
the  body  of  the  machine.  We  both  contin- 
ued to  fire  and  I  was  close  enough  to  see  the 
observer's  face  and  square  head  as  the  ma- 
chine rushed  past.  I  looped-the-loop  and  as 
they  went  under  me  I  put  in  a  few  shots  for 
luck.  Then  the  two-seater  looped  and  I 
passed  under  it. 

Suddenly  there  was  a  rat-tat-tat  behind 
me.  One  look  was  enough.  The  other  two 
machines  had  come  up  and  opened  fire  on 


AN  AIR  SORTIE  83 

me.  I  pulled  away  to  get  into  position  again 
for  the  two-seater.  As  I  did  so  I  saw  some 
red  blotches  on  the  wings  of  the  "Bert."  I 
knew  that  I  had  made  a  hit.  It  showed  me, 
also,  how  close  we  had  been  to  each  other. 
The  propeller  revolving  in  front  of  the  ob- 
server had  spattered  the  blood  on  my  wings. 
This  proved  that  he  was  wounded  in  the  face 
or  neck.  If  it  had  been  a  body  wound  the 
blood  would  have  flowed  down  to  the  boots 
inside  the  leather  clothes,  which  are  water- 
proof. 

I  again  made  for  the  two-seater,  which  had 
veered  off,  and,  keeping  up  my  fire,  I  passed 
within  twenty  feet  of  it.  This  time  I  saw  the 
square  head  turned  sideways,  the  body 
slipped  down  under  the  seat.  He  was  dead. 
The  machine  began  to  descend,  for,  of  course, 
the  pilot  could  not  shoot,  and  I  did  not  see 
it  again.  My  1,000  rounds  of  ammunition 
was  running  low,  but  I  decided  that  I  was 
still  good  for  another.  Besides,  I  wanted  to 
bring  down  a  machine! 

I  didn't  have  long  to  wait,  for  the  other 


84  "EN  LAIR!" 

two,  both  single-seaters  like  the  "Bert,"  were 
on  top  of  me  before  I  knew  it.  One  of  them 
pulled  off  and  I  made  directly  for  the  other, 
letting  my  Vickers  cut  loose. 

Twenty-five  shots  at  twenty  yards.  That 
tells  the  whole  story,  and  it  looked  like  good 
night  for  me. 

Suddenly,  I  saw  flames  bursting  out  of  the 
cockpit  of  my  antagonist — and  I  was  saved. 
My  aim,  fortunately,  had  been  true.  Down 
went  the  Boche  machine,  a  line  of  black 
smoke  marking  its  path  through  the  early 
morning  light.  I  watched  him  until  I  saw 
him  hit  the  ground.  A  puff  of  flame  and 
smoke — that  was  all.  I  had  brought  down 
my  machine !  I  was  particularly  happy  be- 
cause I  had  done  it  with  almost  the  last  of 
my  cartridges. 

Was  I  now  alone  in  this  particular  chunk 
of  atmosphere,  or  was  the  third  Boche  still 
a  near  neighbor  of  mine*?  I  couldn't  see  him 
anywhere.  I  didn't  know  at  this  moment, 
but  I  think  now,  that  the  other  single-seater 
which  had  pulled  off  was  having  motor 


AN  AIR  SORTIE  85 

trouble.  Whatever  it  was  didn't  matter  so 
much — where  he  was  did  trouble  me,  for  in 
the  air  you  must  be  ready  for  danger  from 
six  directions — from  above  and  below  in  ad- 
dition to  north,  south,  east  and  west.  In 
order  to  find  out  what  is  below  me  I  very 
seldom  look  over  the  rail  of  the  car ;  in  fact, 
it  is  almost  impossible  in  a  machine  like  the 
"Bert."  So  I  just  turned  her  on  her  side  and 
got  a  good  look  below.  No  Boche.  I  had 
about  made  up  my  mind  that  the  last  of  the 
three  had  gone  home  for  breakfast  when  I 
suddenly  discovered  that  he  was  nearly 
above  me.  I  felt  that  he  was  about  to  try 
one  of  the  pet  Boche  stunts — "getting  under 
the  tail"  of  my  machine  from  above  and  be- 
hind. And  he  did.  His  gun,  mounted  in 
front,  was  aimed  directly  at  me  as  he  started 
on  his  behind-and-under  dive.  He  had  the 
advantage,  for  in  order  to  hit  him  I  had  to 
turn  and  come  at  him  head  on,  a  reversement 
it  is  called.  I  tried  this,  and  luckily  the 
"Bert"  responded  so  quickly  that  his  bullets 
went  wild.    As  I  had  only  a  few  cartridges 


86  "EN  LAIR!" 

left  and  I  saw  that  my  only  chance  was  to 
maneuver — to  do  all  the  stunts  I  could  think 
of,  in  fact — with  the  chance  of  catching  him 
out  of  position  when  I  was  in.  Also,  I 
hoped  that  I  might  get  on  his  nerves  and  if 
I  could  keep  it  up  long  enough  I  felt  that  he 
would  turn  and  beat  it  for  home. 

It  was  like  a  duel,  just  fencing  around  for 
position.  I  looped  and  he  looped.  He  set 
his  machine  gun  and  fired  all  the  time.  I 
kept  away  from  head-on  contact,  so  his  fire 
was  ineffective.  I  climbed  and  he  climbed. 
Then  I  did  some  slips  and  virages,  all  the 
while  maneuvering  for  the  moment  when  I 
could  get  in  my  last  shots  to  advantage. 
But  the  moment  never  came. 

I  suppose  the  whole  thing  was  only  a  mat- 
ter of  twenty  seconds  at  most.  Suddenly  he 
dived  and  made  off  in  the  direction  of  the 
German  aviation  field  to  the  east  of  Fort 
Douaumont.  Enough  is  enough,  when  you 
are  out  of  ammunition,  and  I  had  to  let  him 

go- 

I  looked  at  my  watch;  fifteen  minutes 


S    o 


AN  AIR  SORTIE  87 

more  and  my  two  and  a  half  hours  would  be 
over.  I  slowed  down  the  motor  and  pre- 
pared to  descend,  doing  it  slowly,  for  the  air 
pressure  constantly  became  harder  on  my 
head  and  ears.  Bang!  A  German  shell  ex- 
ploded not  more  than  forty  yards  away. 
Zim !  A  piece  of  it  ripped  a  hole,  the  second, 
in  my  wings.  Damn!  That's  what  I  said, 
and  didn't  stop  for  any  more.  I  was  now 
passing  over  our  own  lines,  and  if  ever  the 
feeling  of  getting  home  grips  you  hard,  be- 
lieve me  it's  after  you  have  been  flying  over 
German  trenches. 

The  descent  was  gradual,  for  the  reason 
I  have  said,  but  I  was  soon  able  to  make  out 
our  landing  field  and  hangar.  One  of  my 
comrades,  just  starting  up,  passed  waving 

his  hand.    I  could  tell  that  it  was  B 

by  the  number  on  the  machine.  I  waved 
back,  making  a  sign  that  I  had  brought  down 
a  Boche.  One  reason,  and  an  absolutely 
necessary  precaution,  for  the  big  number 
painted  on  the  top  and  sides  of  the  machines 
is  to  prevent  slacking.    We  can  always  see 


88  "EN  LAIR!" 

the  numbers  and  each  of  us  is  required  to 
report  movements  that  he  witnesses.  If  any 
man  declines  combat,  or  refuses  to  attack  an 
enemy  machine  he  is  sent  to  the  trenches 
forthwith. 

After  passing  B ,  who  never  shirked 

anyching  in  his  life,  God  bless  him!  I  came 
down  to  about  200  feet  over  our  field.  A 
short  turn  into  the  wind,  nose  down  with  the 
motor  stopped,  brought  me  skimming  along 
at  about  a  90-mile  clip  to  flatten  out.  Grad- 
ually losing  speed,  the  wheels  of  the  "Bert" 
finally  touched  the  ground ;  then  a  turn,  and 
up  we  rolled  to  the  hangar  without  a  scratch 
to  show  for  our  morning's  work,  save  the  two 
holes  in  the  wings. 

Leon  welcomed  me  as  I  climbed  out,  cold 
and  stiff,  and  pulled  off  my  boots. 

"Prepare  yourself  for  a  citation,"  he  said, 
grinning. 

"What?" 

I  was  busy  trying  to  warm  up  a  bit  and 
did  not  quite  understand  his  broken  English. 


AN  AIR  SORTIE  89 

Then  he  went  on  in  French,  which  I  did  un- 
derstand. 

"Balloon  No.  49  has  telephoned,  mon  lieu- 
tenant. They  witnessed  your  fight.  They 
tell  us  of  the  exact  minute  and  location,  of 
your  Boche  falling  in  flames.  Prepare  your- 
self for  citation,  and  another  palm  leaf  for 
your  Croix  de  Guerre  y 


CHAPTER  IX 

AIR    COMBATS    ALONG    THE    SOMME    FRONTS 

By  this  time  the  Lafayette  Escadrille  was 
getting  pretty  well  shot  to  pieces.  The  fierce 
flying  and  fighting  in  the  Vosges  district  had 
now  cost  us,  among  many,  two  of  our  best, 
for  Kiffin  Rockwell  and  Norman  Prince  were 
both  killed  inside  of  a  month  of  each  other. 
The  rest  of  us  were  still  together  and  get- 
ting in  some  good  licks  on  the  Boche  every 
day. 

We  received  orders  on  October  14th  to 
leave  at  once  for  the  Somme.  We  arrived 
in  good  shape  and  I  was  mighty  glad  to  find 
my  old  superior  officer  there,  Captain  Har- 
court.  He  was  now  in  charge  of  Escadrille 
No.  103,  and  it  so  came  about  that  I  was  able 
to  join  him,  which  pleased  me  very  much. 

Work  began  at  once  in  our  sector  on  the 
90 


GERMAN  MACHINE  ATTACKING  ONE 
OF  OUR  OBSERVATION  BALLOONS 

The  two  observers  here  jumped  and 
may  be  seen  descending  in  their  para- 
chutes. No.  2  shows  the  results  of  this 
attack. 


BALLOON    FALLING    IN    FLAMES 


COMBATS  ALONG  THE  SOMME    91 

Somme  front.  There  was  something  doing 
every  day.  My  first  real  stunt,  a  very  short  1 
air  combat,  however,  came  on  November 
10th.  I  got  the  Boche  at  Raucourt,  near  Pe- 
ronne,  and  brought  him  down  clean  inside 
our  lines.  He  was  piloting  a  German  single- 
seater  and  I  flew  a  Spad.  The  Spad  is  one 
of  the  later  model  fighters.  It  is  a  fine  ma- 
chine to  fly  and  has  more  speed  than  the 
Nieuport.  On  the  14th  I  had  a  very  close 
shave.  This  time  I  got  a  bullet  in  my  cap, 
just  nicking  my  head. 

The  bombardments  here  on  the  Somme 
were  terrific.  The  artillery  work  had  been 
concentrated  to  a  high  degree  and  was  ca- 
pable of  firing  200,000  shells  of  all  caliber 
per  hour.  This  was  equal  to  between  nine 
and  eleven  thousand  tons  of  steel  and  iron 
per  hour,  so  you  have  an  idea  what  it  was 
like.  It  is  a  curious  thing  that  one  gets  used 
to  the  noise,  and  I  soon  slept  just  the  same 
as  if  I  were  at  home.  One  night  the  Germans 
dropped  bombs  on  our  quarters  about  2 
o'clock  in  the  morning.    One  of  the  mechan- 


92  "EN  LAIR!" 

ics  was  killed  and  many  men  wounded.  The 
old  shack  was  full  of  holes.  A  hangar  con- 
taining seven  machines  was  burned,  and  the 
Boche  put  about  sixteen  others  out  of  com- 
mission; afterwards  we  got  these  planes  in 
shape  to  use  again. 

On  another  night  we  got  hit  again  good 
and  plenty.  The  Boche  did  it  with  one  well- 
placed  bomb,  too.  This  bomb  was  dropped 
on  an  ammunition  depot  where  100,000 
shells  were  stored. 

The  shells  exploded  for  ten  hours  after- 
wards, which  was  rather  peculiar,  only  a  few 
exploding  at  a  time.  They  certainly  made 
quite  a  little  noise.  Amiens  was  bombed  at 
night,  killing  a  large  number  of  women  and 
children. 

These  bombing  raids  at  night  were  a  fea- 
ture of  the  fighting  all  that  fall  at  the 
Somme.  Of  course  we  retaliated,  going  out 
after  the  Boche.  It  proved  to  be  some  of  the 
most  difficult  work  we  had.  It  is  almost  im- 
possible to  see  another  machine  at  night  un- 
less you  happen  on  it  at  very  close  range. 


COMBATS  ALONG  THE  SOMME    93 

Then  it  is  very  likely  to  be  one  of  your  own 
comrades.  The  risk  to  both  pilot  and  ma- 
chine is  great — to  the  latter  because  landing 
is  very  difficult  with  a  fast  machine  at  night. 

Otherwise  our  life  at  the  Somme  front  was 
very  agreeable.  There  were  more  than  one 
hundred  flyers  of  the  fighting  groups  all  on 
the  same  field.  The  formations  here  were 
called  groups  and  consisted  of  four  squad- 
rons or  escadrilles.  Each  one  was  made  up 
of  twelve  flyers,  four  officers  including  the 
commanding  officer  and  eight  non-commis- 
sioned officers.  Thus  one  group  consisted  of 
forty-eight  machines.  Each  group  was  com- 
manded by  a  Major  who  fixed  the  hours  and 
issued  all  orders.  We  had  a  regular  routine 
of  work,  flying  by  patrol  between  fixed 
points,  two  hours  and  thirty  minutes  to  each 
patrol.  We  went  out  once  a  day  and  were  at 
alert  for  two  hours  and  thirty  minutes  also. 
We  were  generally  called  out. 

As  our  life  here  was  typical  of  military 
aviation  in  general  I  will  go  into  details  a 
little.    A  man  can  figure  on  five  hours  a  day 


94  "EN  LAIR!" 

in  good  weather.  The  most  I  have  ever 
flown  was  eight  hours  in  one  day.  A  stunt 
like  that  is  very  tiresome  and  hard  on  a  man 
because  of  changing  altitudes  so  rapidly.  A 
great  many  men  have  nervous  breakdown  or 
heart  troubles  and  are  sent  to  a  separate  hos- 
pital where  they  are  treated  by  specialists 
and  well  rested  before  they  are  sent  back. 
The  life  of  an  aviator  at  the  front  is  very 
short.  No  one  knows  the  exact  figures,  but 
I  have  heard  it  put  at  about  seventeen  hours 
of  actual  flying.  The  life  of  a  machine  is 
from  seventy  to  one  hundred  hours,  barring 
accidents.  Strangely  enough  there  are  very 
few  accidents  at  the  front,  and  practically 
no  loss  of  life  by  accident. 

We  were  getting  the  newer  and  better 
types  of  machines  by  this  time.  They  devel- 
oped great  stability  in  the  air,  the  reason  be- 
ing that  the  center  of  gravity  is  placed  on 
the  nose.  You  get  the  same  results  as  from 
an  old-fashioned  dart,  no  matter  what  posi- 
tion the  machine  is  in.  You  let  her  loose  and 
she  goes  on  her  nose.    Once  there  all  that  you 


u,  L  JsSl 

t 

V  -m 

-1    -W4 

■vt' 

*>   ^'^ 

EL  *     h* 

1  v  ;• 

5?     k 

HI  '>  i*  t*  vs^" 

„:^^^^^^^t\ 

!^^^^^^Bl 

wl^fc^S«Kil 

'crSML 

111k 

|;f  !•' .  ■ 

COMBATS  ALONG  THE  SOMME    95 

have  to  do  is  to  pull  up  and  you  are  righted. 
I  think  this  method  of  construction  will  be 
adopted  by  all  manufacturers  soon. 

The  men  in  my  escadrille  were  billeted  in 
small  houses  near  the  hangars  and  each  man 
had  a  room  all  to  himself.  There  was  a  large 
mess  shack  for  the  officers.  We  had  our  own 
cooks,  who  were  professionals  and  generally 
good.  We  bought  our  own  food,  that  is  the 
officers.  One  man  went  back  to  some  town 
daily  and  bought  the  supplies.  The  non- 
commissioned men  were  fed  by  the  Govern- 
ment and  they  had  plenty  of  food  of 
excellent  quality.  There  were  two  flying 
groups  on  this  same  field,  so  you  see  there 
was  quite  a  crowd  of  us.  We  had  a  shower 
bath,  electric  lights,  plenty  of  wood  for  heat, 
and  a  bar.  The  benefits  of  the  bar  went  to 
buy  reading  matter,  and  there  was  also  a  sort 
of  casino  where  we  played  poker,  bridge,  and 
a  few  good  old  "prayer  meetings' '  as  the  dice 
games  were  called.  Money  was  the  least  of 
our  troubles,  as  one  did  not  expect  to  live 
long  enough — so  why  worry  about  finance. 


96  "EN  L'AIRJ" 

We  were  all  brothers  and  we  discussed 
everything  with  each  other,  our  battles  and 
our  love  affairs.  The  aviators  of  France 
have  the  pick  of  the  fair  sex.  Our  marraines, 
or  god-mothers,  sent  us  lots  of  nice  things 
which  were  duly  appreciated.  We  had  mov- 
ing-pictures once  a  week  in  a  hangar,  all  the 
latest  films. 

We  were  given  leave  every  three  months 
for  seven  days.  It  sure  was  one  continuous 
party  from  the  day  we  arrived  in  Paris  until 
the  last  minute  of  the  third  day.  It  made 
flying  seem  like  loafing. 

"Let's  go  back  to  the  front  and  get  some 
rest,"  we  would  say  as  we  left  Paris. 

It's  a  fact  that  flying  was  so  fascinating 
and  so  agreeable  that  we  couldn't  stay  away 
from  it  long.  I  got  homesick  every  time  I 
had  leave  and  I  wanted  to  get  back  to  my 
pals  and  the  excitement.  There  is  a  fasci- 
nation about  it  that  ruins  a  man  for  any- 
thing else.  I  know  that  I  will  never  be  much 
good  at  work  again. 

Before  I  finally  left  for  America  I  had,  all 


COMBATS  ALONG  THE  SOMME  97 

told,  three  years  of  genuine  sport.  I  don't 
know  how  much  longer  the  war  will  last  and 
my  only  idea  is  that  I  will  have  to  go  to  work 
when  it  is  over.  I  hate  to  think  of  it.  Per- 
haps some  kind  philanthropist  will  put  us  on 
a  pension.  I  hope  so,  as  work  would  be  an 
awful  shock  after  so  much  pleasure  and  so 
many  good  times. 


CHAPTER  X 

MY   METHODS   OF   ATTACK 

Usually  it's  all  over  in  twenty  seconds, 
one  way  or  the  other. 

My  own  experience  has  taught  me  that 
you  have  got  to  go  to  it  quick  if  you  pull  out 
at  all.  One-third  of  a  minute  after  contact 
with  the  enemy  machine  means  victory  or 
defeat,  and  in  nine  cases  out  of  ten  life  or 
death  for  you.  The  reason  is  this:  in  that 
short  time  you  have  gained  the  offensive  or 
else  the  Boche  has.  That  particular  air  com- 
bat is  as  good  as  decided.  The  man  who  gets 
the  offensive  always  wins. 

I  suppose  every  military  aviator  develops 
his  own  methods  of  handling  his  machine  in 
maneuvering  and  in  attack.  No  two  fights 
are  ever  alike  and  you  are  constantly  meet- 
ing with  new  situations.    Differences  in  alti- 

98 


MY  METHODS  OF  ATTACK    99 

tude  might  seem  to  account  for  this  in  some 
measure,  but  this  has  not  been  true  in  my 
work.  I  have  fought  up  as  high  as  20,000 
feet  and  I  can  assure  you  that  it  is  no  differ- 
ent than  a  combat  at  1,000  feet. 

For  fighting  at  high  altitude  we  were  well 
dressed,  as  the  cold  is  very  severe.  During 
the  winter  months  at  15,000  feet  altitude  it 
is  about  50  below  zero.  When  we  are  breez- 
ing along  at  the  rate  of  140  miles  per  hour 
it  gets  pretty  fresh.  We  wear  a  sealskin- 
lined  one-piece  combination,  fur-lined  boots, 
gloves  and  helmet.  We  have  a  preparation 
that  we  rub  on  our  faces  to  keep  the  exposed 
parts  from  freezing.  We  also  carry  oxygen 
tubes,  as  the  air  is  very  rare  above  16,000 
feet.  Your  heart  will  stop  working  without 
oxygen.  We  have  rubber  tubes  and  when 
we  get  to  feeling  a  little  giddy,  we  stick 
this  tube  in  our  mouths  and  blow  ourselves 
up.  One  charge  of  oxygen  will  last  about 
fifteen  minutes.  At  the  end  of  that  time,  if 
you  remain  at  the  high  altitude,  you  have  to 
take  another  whiff  out  of  the  bottle. 


ioo  "EN  LAIR!" 

One  does  not  notice  the  altitude,  only  the 
lightness  of  the  air  makes  one  gasp  for  breath 
once  in  a  while.  The  air  is  very  calm  above 
10,000  feet,  but  in  warm  weather  one  gets 
shaken  up  pretty  badly,  up  to  7,000  feet,  by 
heat  waves.  In  my  own  case  I  soon  got  used 
to  flying,  and  I  felt  just  as  much  at  home  in 
the  air  as  on  the  ground.  Sometimes  we  used 
to  have  to  go  at  the  rate  of  1,000  meters  to 
protect  the  artillery  machines.  Then  one  is 
in  the  trajectory  of  the  big  shells  and  they 
shake  you  up  a  bit.  In  one  battle  we  lost 
several  machines  which  were  struck  by  our 
own  shells. 

I  have  heard  Captain  Georges  Guynemer 
describe  his  methods.  He  believed  that  the 
first  twenty  seconds  did  the  trick.  When  in 
a  tight  corner  his  favorite  play  was  looping 
the  loop,  for  he  had  great  faith  in  acrobatic 
tactics.  He  said  he  always  tried  to  fly  be- 
hind the  Boche  and  below  him  if  possible.  I 
always  felt  better  if  I  could  get  the  altitude 
on  an  enemy  plane.  Guynemer  was  one  of 
the  best  shots  in  the  French  aviation  and  he 


MY  METHODS  OF  ATTACK    101 

would  bring  his  machine  up  short,  after  his 
opening  attack,  and  open  his  deadly  fire.  In 
my  opinion,  to  gain  the  altitude  is  to  have 
the  advantage.  That  is  the  reason,  I  believe, 
that  so  much  of  the  work  is  being  done  so 
high  at  the  present  time.  One  can  dive  on 
an  adversary  and,  by  skillful  maneuvering, 
protect  oneself  to  a  certain  extent  from  his 
machine-gun  fire.  There  are  certain  posi- 
tions from  which  he  cannot  shoot  at  once.  If 
it  is  a  case  of  a  Boche  single-seater  one  need 
not  worry.  You  must  watch  his  maneuver- 
ing and  not  let  him  get  behind  you. 

Sometimes  we  used  a  tracing  bullet.  You 
can  see  exactly  where  every  one  goes  and  by 
this  means  repair  your  fire,  which  is  a  great 
advantage. 

Unlike  a  single-seater,  I  have  found  that 
the  big  German  double-seater  is  a  mighty 
hard  proposition.  They  are  well  armed  and 
the  gunner  keeps  a  sharp  look-out.  One  of 
your  most  tiring  duties  is  this  business  of 
look-out.  You  must  keep  constantly  turn- 
ing around  to  avoid  being  stepped  upon. 


102  UEN  LAIR!" 

Very  seldom  do  you  encounter  a  German 
who  will  fight  you  at  equal  odds.  They  are 
not  clean  fighters  and  cannot  be  classed  as 
fighters  man  to  man.  They  fight  only  in  or- 
ganizations. They  are  made  to  fight  by  dis- 
cipline and  not  by  overflowing  courage.  At 
the  beginning  there  was  some  chivalry 
among  them,  but  not  any  more.  Now  we  at- 
tack as  soon  as  we  see  each  other,  and,  of 
course,  we  are  there  for  that  purpose.  The 
Germans  cannot  be  compared  to  the  French 
as  fighters.  Their  machines  are  good  but 
the  men  are  deficient. 

You  soon  find  out  that  clouds  are  your 
friends,  especially  if  the  cloud  is  thick  and 
full  of  holes.  I  did  a  good  deal  of  this  kind 
of  fighting.  You  hang  around  over  a  hole 
and  wait  for  the  Boche  to  pass  under,  through 
the  open  space.  Then  you  can  get  him  by 
surprise  from  your  ambush.  It  was  in  a  bat- 
tle of  this  kind  that  I  fought  at  the  heaviest 
odds  I  ever  encountered,  fourteen  to  one. 
It  took  place  over  Soully,  the  headquarters 
at  Verdun,   and   Marshal   Joffre   saw   the 


MY  METHODS  OF  ATTACK    103 

fight.  I  think  it  was  one  of  the  Marshal's 
first  opportunities  to  witness  an  air  fight  at 
close  range,  and  he  seemed  to  be  much  im- 
pressed by  it.  It  was  then  that  I  was  deco- 
rated with  the  Medaille  Militaire,  the  high- 
est French  military  decoration.  This  me- 
daille cannot  be  worn  by  an  officer,  only  by  a 
non-commissioned  man  or  general  command- 
ing an  army.  I  was  a  sergeant  at  the  time  I 
was  decorated  with  the  medaille. 

Many  times,  of  course,  there  are  attacks 
without  results.  Then  we  would  each  start 
back  to  his  own  lines,  waving  a  hand  for  au 
revoir.  If  the  pilot,  or  the  machine,  is  hit 
badly  it  usually  falls  like  a  leaf,  fluttering 
and  zig-zagging  to  earth.  This  is  not  al- 
ways the  case,  for  if  the  aviator  stops  his 
motor  he  falls  slowly.  If,  however,  the 
motor  is  running  it  generally  falls  nose  first 
and  at  terrific  speed.  As  a  rule  the  wings 
buckle  up  and  they  go  down  like  a  stone. 
You  can  watch  them  until  they  strike  the 
ground ;  a  puff  of  smoke  and  a  spot  of  debris, 
that  is  all.    If  the  machine  falls  in  our  lines 


104  "EN  L'AIRr 

we  generally  land  near  it  in  order  to  get 
a  souvenir. 

Collisions  in  the  air  are  more  frequent 
than  might  be  supposed.  It  was  at  Verdun 
that  I  saw  one  of  my  friends,  a  Frenchman, 
misjudge  in  making  an  attack.  He  ran  into 
the  Boche  and  they  both  went  down  together 
for  some  distance.  Then  they  came  apart 
and  fell  to  the  earth. 

That  is  not  all.  I  have  also  set  a  Ger- 
man machine  on  fire,  and  unless  you  have 
seen  such  a  sight  you  have  no  idea  how  rap- 
idly an  aeroplane  will  burn.  It  is  horrible 
if  you  put  yourself  in  the  place  of  the  pilot 
of  that  doomed  machine,  but  you  feel  much 
better  than  if  it  were  yourself.  A  long  black 
train  of  smoke  is  all  there  is  to  picture  the 
tragedy  to  you.  The  inflammable  bullet  is 
another  weapon  which  is  used  with  great  ef- 
fectiveness. It  doesn't  need  to  wound  you 
to  get  in  its  deadly  work.  Once  I  saw  a 
French  captain  whose  machine  had  been  set 
on  fire  by  one  of  these  inflammable  bullets. 
The  poor  devil  knew  that  he  would  burn 


MY,  METHODS  OF  ATTACK    105 

before  reaching  the  earth,  so  he  dived  into 
the  German  machine  which  was  below  him. 
They  both  went  down  together,  burning.  I 
have  also  seen  a  man  fall  out  of  a  machine 
from  an  altitude  of  twelve  thousand  feet. 
He  fell  so  rapidly  that  all  one  could  see  was 
a  black  line.  There  was  nothing  left  of  him, 
and  his  body  was  driven  into  the  earth  three 
feet. 

Some  people  have  asked  me  about  this 
business  of  killing  the  other  fellow.  I  can't 
speak  for  other  aviators,  but  I  never  really 
wanted  to  kill  another  man — if  he  was  a 
man.  But  you  cannot  call  the  German  a 
man ;  he  is  only  a  savage.  It  is  simply  a  case 
of  getting  him  before  he  gets  you.  One  is 
more  of  a  professional  than  anything  else, 
and  it  is  different  from  the  infantry.  As  I 
have  said,  there  was  at  first  quite  a  bit  of 
chivalry  in  the  aviation  but  that  has  ceased. 
We  used  to  drop  a  line,  telling  the  Germans 
of  their  comrades  who  had  been  brought 
down  inside  the  French  lines.  If  they  were 
wounded,  killed  or  prisoners,  we  would  send 


106  "EN  LAIR!" 

word  of  it  back  to  their  comrades.  When  I 
bring  down  a  Boche  I  am  always  relieved  to 
see  him  go,  as  the  more  we  kill  the  quicker 
it  will  be  over. 

Altogether  I  have  brought  down  compara- 
tively few  machines  as  a  result  of  the  more 
than  one  hundred  air  combats  in  which  I 
have  been  engaged.  It  is  not  as  easy  as  it 
seems.  One  of  the  most  distinct  recollec- 
tions you  have  of  a  fight  is  the  noise  of  a 
machine  gun  in  the  air.  Sometimes  in  a  sur- 
prise attack,  when  you  have  a  Boche  slip  up 
on  you,  the  first  thing  you  hear  is  the  tat-tat 
of  his  machine  gun.  You  can  even  hear  the 
bullets  go  by  above  the  din  of  your  motor. 
That  soon  makes  you  get  busy  doing  acro- 
batics to  get  away.  We  generally  loop,  like 
Captain  Guynemer,  if  the  enemy  is  near 
enough  behind  us.  Then  he  goes  under  and 
we  are  behind  him,  which  puts  us  in  a  posi- 
tion to  give  him  his  own  medicine. 

Nerve,  after  all,  is  the  principal  requisite 
of  a  successful  military  aviator.  I  have 
found  that  the  best  tactics  is  to  go  straight  at 


MY,  METHODS  OF  ATTACK    107 

the  Boche.  While  you  are  doing  this  he  gets 
a  good  chance  at  you,  but  if  you  have  the 
nerve  you  get  in  more  shots  at  him  from  a 
more  favorable  position  than  when  you 
maneuver.  You  can  only  get  in  a  few  shots 
otherwise,  as  you  are  out  of  position  when 
maneuvering.  I  have  tried  all  methods  and 
find  this  the  best.  I  have  seen  all  the  best 
flyers  attack,  Captain  Guynemer,  Navarre, 
Nungasser  and  the  rest,  for  we  were  always 
together.  Their  methods  of  attack  were  dif- 
ferent, but  the  straight  dive  always  gave  the 
best  results. 


CHAPTER  XI 

SUBMARINED    EN    ROUTE    TO    RUSSIA 

Early  in  December,  1916,  the  French 
Government  received  an  urgent  request 
from  the  military  authorities  in  Russia  and 
Roumania  for  some  French  aviators.  They 
were  needed  on  the  east  front,  to  show  the 
Russians  how  we  were  playing  the  game, 
and  also  to  put  heart  into  their  own  flyers. 
It  was  now  that  a  new  phase  of  my  work  com- 
menced. Orders  came  to  me  to  go  on  this 
service,  and  I  started  at  once  for  Petrograd, 
leaving  Paris  on  December  19th. 

My  journey  was  full  of  adventure,  includ- 
ing one  new  experience,  an  encounter  with 
a  submarine.  From  Paris  I  went  directly  to 
London,  when  I  changed  my  French  uniform 
for  civilian's  clothes.  It  is  important  to  re- 
member this.    The  ship  I  was  to  take  sailed 

108 


SUBMARINED  109 

from  Newcastle  and  our  first  port  was  Ber- 
gen on  the  Norwegian  coast.  On  the  way 
we  were  stopped  by  a  German  submarine. 
The  sea  was  too  rough,  however,  to  permit 
the  men  from  the  submarine  to  board  our 
ship.  They  held  us  a  long  time,  asking  us 
what  our  cargo  was  and  our  nationalities.  If 
the  weather  had  permitted  them  to  come 
aboard  I  would  probably  have  been  taken  a 
prisoner.  I  thank  Providence  for  that  rough 
sea.  From  Bergen  we  proceeded  to  Chris- 
tiania,  and  thence  to  Stockholm.  Before 
reaching  Stockholm  I  met  up  with  a  couple 
of  Germans  who  were  buying  war  supplies. 
Both  were  officers.  They  asked  my  business, 
so  I  said  I  was  selling  supplies  to  the  Rus- 
sian Government.  So,  being  an  American, 
they  talked  very  freely  with  me.  They  were 
confident  of  victory  and  told  me  of  their  su- 
periority in  artillery  and  aviation.  I  said 
"yes,"  when  I  really  wanted  to  strangle 
them.  Thinking  of  some  five  or  six  Boches 
that  I  had  brought  down  I  decided  that  their 
superiority  was  not  so  great.    They  wanted 


no  "EN  U AIR!" 

to  buy  somethings  of  me  which  I  didn't  have, 
of  course.  I  asked  how  I  could  ship  them. 
They  replied  that  I  could  send  the  supplies 
to  them  at  Stockholm  where  they  had  a 
house. 

"We  do  quite  a  bit  of  buying  in  the 
United  States,"  they  told  me.  "Sweden  is 
our  friend." 

I  discovered  this  myself.  I  promised  to 
call  on  them  on  my  return  from  Russia.  I 
would  like  to  have  done  so — with  a  bomb. 

From  Stockholm  I  continued  my  journey 
to  Haparanda,  and  across  by  sleigh  to  Tor- 
nes.  It  was  forty  below  zero  and  the  wind 
was  blowing  fifty  miles  an  hour  during  most 
of  the  trip.  At  the  Russian  frontier  I  was 
examined  by  interpreters,  and  gone  over 
most  thoroughly,  I  can  assure  you.  It  took 
over  two  hours  and  I  had  a  French  diplo- 
matic passport.  They  took  no  chances,  for 
I  was  in  civilian's  clothes.  More  than  once 
I  thought  I  would  never  get  through,  and 
that  is  not  all,  for  if  an  officer  is  found  in 
civilian's  clothes  he  can  be  shot. 


SUBMARINED  ill 

The  customs  officials  were  very  alert  be- 
cause many  Germans  came  into  Russia  by 
this  way. 

Early  the  following  morning  I  ar- 
rived at  the  Finland  railroad  station  in 
Petrograd.  The  cold  was  terrible  and  I  was 
glad  to  pay  an  extortionate  price,  ten  ru- 
bles, to  the  taxi  driver  who  took  me  to  the 
Hotel  de  France.  The  ordinary  charge  is 
one  ruble.  At  that  time  the  ruble  was 
worth  33  1/3  cents  but  before  I  left  Russia 
its  value  had  depreciated  to  about  17  cents. 
At  the  Hotel  de  France  they  gave  me  a  very 
small  room  at  ten  rubles  a  day.  There  was 
no  bath,  of  course,  for  baths  are  not  very 
popular  in  Russia.  In  the  morning  I  went 
down  for  breakfast,  and  when  I  saw  the 
prices  my  appetite  failed  me.  Eggs  were 
one  ruble  each,  bacon  two  rubles,  coffee 
one  ruble.  The  waiter  only  spoke  Russian 
and,  as  I  was  not  very  apt  at  this  tongue  yet, 
we  couldn't  talk  much. 

"Do  you  speak  German?"  he  asked. 

"Yes,"  I  replied. 


112  "EN.  LAIR!" 

Then  he  proceeded  to  talk  in  the  most 
fluent  German  that  I  have  ever  heard.  I 
am  sure  that  he  had  been  a  kellner  at  the 
Winter  Garden  in  Berlin  and  I  know  that 
his  German  was  much  better  than  his  Rus- 
sian. Like  so  many  others  he  was  a  distin- 
guished member  of  the  Kaiser's  secret  diplo- 
matic corps.  They  are  all  placed  where  they 
can  do  the  most  good  for  Germany.  Only 
officers  were  placed  in  the  Petrograd  hotels 
where  they  could  hear  very  important  mat- 
ters, for  the  Russians  are  not  at  all  discreet. 

The  day  I  arrived  in  Petrograd,  Decem- 
ber 29th,  was  the  day  after  the  famous  Ras- 
putin had  been  murdered.  There  was  crepe 
and  other  mourning  emblems  on  many  pub- 
lic buildings,  especially  the  palaces.  Ras- 
putin and  all  his  followers  were  pro-Ger- 
mans and  there  is  no  doubt  in  my  mind  but 
that  he  was  in  daily  communication  with 
Germany.  The  influence  of  Rasputin  in  the 
administration  of  affairs  was  extraordinary. 
He  controlled  the  railroads  of  Russia,  and 
often  the  material  assigned  to  the  front  for 


MASSON    AND    BERT    HALL 


OUR    HOME    ON    THE    RUSSIAN    FRONT 
Aeroplane  box  used  for  house. 


SUBMARINED  113 

the  armies  never  arrived.  Whole  train- 
loads  of  stuff  were  found  in  Siberia  when  it 
had  been  already  to  Petrograd  and  was  con- 
signed to  the  southwest  and  northern  fronts. 
This  was  all  the  work  of  Rasputin. 

Of  all  the  wild  tales  about  how  Rasputin 
met  his  death,  the  one  told  to  me  by  an  of- 
ficer of  the  Russian  general  staff  is  true. 
The  monk  was  enticed  to  a  village  about 
thirty  miles  from  Petrograd  by  three  of  his 
followers.  He  went  disguised,  as  he  knew 
his  enemies  were  after  him.  He  spent  the 
day  with  these  women.  In  the  evening  they 
suddenly  disappeared  and  Rasputin  found 
himself  confronted  by  eleven  men,  all  very 
noted  personages  in  Russia,  and  among  them 
one  man  who  is  very  important  in  Russia  to- 
day. A  revolver  was  placed  on  the  table 
and  Rasputin  was  told  to  kill  himself.  He 
did  not  do  so,  but  picked  up  the  gun  and 
shot  at  one  of  his  enemies.  He  missed  the 
man  and  killed  a  dog  that  was  in  the  room. 
Before  Rasputin  could  fire  again  he  was  shot 
by  three  of  the  party.     Afterwards  they 


114  "EN LAIR!" 

found  three  balls  of  different  caliber  in  his 
body. 

I  spent  only  three  days  in  Petrograd  but 
that  was  long  enough  for  them  to  politely 
separate  me  from  nearly  every  cent  I  had. 
Prices  were  worse  than  the  Klondyke  in 
1898.  A  glass  of  brandy  cost  $8.00  in  our 
money.  I  am  not  a  drinker  so  I  didn't  invest 
much  in  liquor.  A  pair  of  $5  shoes  were  $30 
a  pair.  I  went  on  my  way  thinking  things 
would  be  better  elsewhere,  but  I  found  just 
the  contrary.  The  farther  I  went  the  higher 
the  prices  went.  Everybody  seemed  rich  but 
me.  A  clerk  in  an  office  that  drew  a  salary 
of  100  rubles  per  month  was  living  like  a 
king.  Once  I  asked  a  Russian  officer  how 
they  did  it.    He  smiled. 

"Graft,  my  boy.  You  don't  know  Rus- 
sia." 

And  I  didn't.  We  Americans  are  three 
hundred  years  behind  Russia.  I  really  be- 
lieve I  was  the  only  poor  man  there  at  the 
time. 


CHAPTER  XII 

TRYING    TO    HELP     RUSSIA    AND    ROUMANIA 

From  one  end  of  the  Eastern  front  to  the 
other  was  chaos,  everything  and  everybody. 
The  French  officers  who  had  been  sent  over 
were  doing  what  they  could  to  bring  about 
order,  and  in  spots  things  were  cleaned  up, 
put  in  shape  and  organized  to  some  extent. 
It  made  me  want  to  laugh  and  weep  at  the 
same  time.  My  work  took  me  from  a  point 
about  one  hundred  miles  south  of  Riga  at  the 
north  to  the  very  end  of  the  Roumanian  line 
on  the  Black  Sea  at  the  south.  I  had  a  chance 
to  see  what  was  going  on  everywhere,  and  I 
mixed  with  the  officers  and  men  of  both  ar- 
mies, the  Russian  and  Roumanian.  I  cer- 
tainly was  impressed  with  their  ideas  of  war 
after  my  two  years  on  the  Western  front. 
No  system,  no  anything.    They  have  eighty- 

115 


n6  "EN  L'AIR!" 

eight  national  holidays  in  Russia  and  no  sol- 
dier will  fight  on  a  holiday.  The  kind  of 
fighting  they  do  on  the  other  days  is  a  joke. 

In  the  Russian  aviation  things  couldn't 
have  been  worse.  I  found  that  the  men 
would  fly  only  when  they  felt  like  it.  They 
almost  never  passed  over  behind  the  Ger- 
man lines.  The  average  Russian  aviator 
aims  to  fly  six  hours  per  month.  His  pay  is 
two  hundred  rubles  and  after  his  six  hours 
he  takes  a  good  long  rest.  When  I  started 
in  to  really  do  some  flying  they  thought  I 
was  a  patriot  and  a  fool.  In  fact,  they  didn't 
make  any  bones  about  telling  me  so.  They 
let  the  German  machines  do  what  they 
pleased;  they  flew  all  around  our  lines  and 
were  never  molested  by  the  Russians. 

Socially  the  Russian  aviator  is  certainly  a 
good  fellow.  They  can  all  play  a  good  game 
of  poker  and  can  put  away  a  lot  of  drinks.  I 
think  they  have  the  Germans  beat  in  these 
branches.  But  as  fighters  they  are  nil.  No 
patriotism,  no  enthusiasm  and  not  too  much 
courage.    About  all  they  did  in  the  aviation 


TRYING  TO  HELP  RUSSIA     117 

corps  was  to  drink  champagne,  play  poker 
and  "66,"  a  German  game.  The  men  always 
say  "to-morrow."  They  are  never  in  a  hurry 
and  they  don't  worry.  The  Russian  has  no 
idea  of  what  war  means  in  the  air.  They  are 
well  equipped,  having  all  the  latest  types  of 
fighting  machines.  But  the  Russians  are  not 
air  fighters.  They  were  very  frank,  almost 
childlike,  in  expressing  their  feelings  to  me. 

"Oh,  we  would  be  just  as  well  off  under 
German  Kultur  as  we  are  now." 

I  have  often  heard  things  like  that.  Rus- 
sia means  nothing  to  the  average  Russian,  al- 
though I  met  a  few,  a  very  few,  patriots 
among  them. 

From  the  north  I  went  on  down  to  the 
Caneasus  front,  and  there  I  met  the  Grand 
Duke  Nicholas.  He  is  a  remarkably  able 
soldier  and  a  patriot.  He  is  fighting  for 
Russia  and  is  one  of  the  few  men  who  had 
any  real  influence  with  the  soldiers.  He  is 
worshiped  by  his  men. 

One  instance,  a  thing  which  happened  to 
me,  will  show  better  than  a  description  what 


n8  "EN  LAIR!" 

the  fighting  was  like  here.  It  happened 
when  I  brought  down  my  first  Boche  on  the 
Eastern  front.  I  saw  him  come  over  in  our 
lines  at  about  1,500  feet  altitude  and  I  went 
after  him.  I  suppose  that  he  thought  I  was 
a  Russian  as  he  did  not  pay  any  attention  to 
me.  I  proceeded  to  shoot  him  down.  When 
I  returned  I  was  very  much  surprised  to  find 
that  my  comrades  did  not  approve  of  what 
I  had  done.    They  said : 

"We  have  been  here  a  long  time  and  the 
Germans  have  never  bothered  us.  Now  they 
will  get  mad  and  come  and  drop  bombs  on 
us  and  may  kill  some  of  us." 

I  thought  that  this  was  a  little  too  steep, 
so  I  moved  on  to  another  squadron,  but  I 
found  that  they  were  all  about  the  same. 
Soon  after  this  I  was  proposed  for  the  Cross 
of  St.  George,  a  decoration  for  officers  only, 
which  is  very  rare  in  Russia.  I  received  it 
by  the  Czar's  order  only  four  days  before  he 
abdicated.  It  was  the  last  one  given  out  by 
him.  I  also  received  the  St.  Vladimir,  which 
is  the  Russian  Legion  d'Honneur. 


TRYING  TO  HELP  RUSSIA     119 

From  the  army  of  the  Grand  Duke  Nich- 
olas I  went  on  south  into  Roumania,  where 
I  joined  what  was  then  the  combined  Russo- 
Roumanian  army.  I  never  would  have  be- 
lieved such  things  as  I  saw  there,  and  I  doubt 
if  the  terrible  story  can  ever  be  told.  Out 
of  the  650,000  men  in  the  Roumanian  army 
only  about  90,000  were  on  the  front.  Every- 
where the  country  and  the  people  were  in  a 
most  horrible  condition.  The  greater  part 
of  this  vast  army  had  died  of  disease,  al- 
though thousands  of  sick  had  been  sent  back 
into  Russia  to  recuperate.  Typhus  did  most 
of  this  slaughter.  There  was  plenty  of  chol- 
era, but  that  was  fatal  in  only  about  ten  per 
cent,  of  the  cases.  But  here  in  Roumania 
under  war  conditions  typhus  was  sure  death 
both  in  the  army  and  to  the  wretched  civil 
population.  The  only  chance  you  have  with 
typhus  is  to  be  strong  and  well  nourished. 
But  there  was  not  a  man,  woman  or  child  in 
Roumania  at  this  time  who  was  in  good  con- 
dition, or  anywhere  near  it. 

The  every-day  scenes  in  Jassy  were  be- 


120  "EN  L'AIRr 

yond  belief.  Jassy  is  normally  a  city  of 
about  40,000  inhabitants.  In  it  450,000 
poor  wretches  had  sought  refuge.  There 
was  no  food  for  them  and  little  or  no  shelter. 
They  died  in  the  streets  by  hundreds.  Any- 
thing like  burial  or  a  quick  disposition  of 
the  bodies  was  out  of  the  question. 

I  couldn't  get  a  meal  and  it  seemed  almost 
sacrilegious  in  the  midst  of  all  this  horror  to 
hunt  for  cigarettes.  There  were  none,  any- 
how. But  that  was  nothing.  There  was  no 
soap,  no  sugar,  coffee,  tea  nor  clothing.  To 
eat  you  only  got  corn  meal  cooked  in  a  sort 
of  mush  and  served  cold.  We  had  some 
beans  but  no  other  vegetables,  meat  some-! 
times  twice  a  week.  Not  a  bath  house  was 
open  in  the  city.  The  cold  was  intense. 
There  was  no  wood  or  coal  for  heat  and  the 
temperature  was  about  twenty-five  degrees 
below  zero.  Many  of  the  doctors  and  nurses 
died  of  typhus. 

The  railroad  station  was  converted  into 
a  hospital  and  in  it  were  about  three  hun- 
dred beds.    In  each  bed  were  three  wounded 


TRYING  TO  HELP  RUSSIA     121 

men,  and  on  the  floor  lay  fully  a  thousand 
others. 

I  knew  the  French  doctor  here  and  he  told 
me  that  they  had  no  medicines  and  no  food 
for  the  men.  One  day  I  went  with  him  as  he 
made  his  rounds  in  the  station-hospital  with 
his  orderlies.  They  went  along  among  the 
men,  tapping  them  with  a  cane.  If  the  man 
grunted  they  said : 

"All  right;  he's  alive." 

If  there  was  no  response  the  orderlies 
would  take  out  the  body.  Box-cars  were 
used,  the  bodies  being  loaded  into  them  and 
hauled  out  of  the  city.  I  saw  three  hun- 
dred at  one  time  piled  up  awaiting  burial. 
A  great  many  died  of  hunger  and  from  cold 
because  there  was  no  wood  for  heat.  There 
was  about  three  feet  of  snow  on  the  ground. 
All  winter  communications  with  the  outside 
world  were  nearly  cut  off.  Only  one  rail- 
road line  ran  to  Russia  and  there  was  no  or- 
ganization on  even  this.  It  was  not  the  same 
gauge  as  the  Russian  railroads  and  all  stuff 
had  to  be  transferred  to  Roumanian  cars. 


122  "EN  LAIRT 

I  often  talked  with  French  doctors  who 
had  been  through  the  Serbian  campaign  and 
they  told  me  that  conditions  in  Roumania 
surpassed  Serbia  for  misery  and  suffering. 
There  was  absolutely  no  way  of  getting  re- 
lief and  news  never  left  the  country. 

The  Roumanian  private  is  a  good  soldier, 
but  the  officers — zero.  It  happened  that  I 
arrived  just  in  time  to  see  General  Souchec 
degraded  and  sent  to  prison  for  four  years, 
Colonel  Sturtza  shot,  and  a  good  many  oth- 
ers punished.  Colonel  Sturtza  was  going 
over  to  the  Germans  with  his  entire  regi- 
ment when  he  was  caught  by  a  sentinel  and 
made  to  confess.  The  French  Mission 
straightened  out  a  great  many  things  like 
this.  The  Mission  was  headed  by  General 
Berthello  who  did  some  wonderful  things 
for  Roumania.  Otherwise  the  Germans 
would  have  taken  the  rest  of  the  country. 
Fourteen  Roumanian  officers  of  different 
ranks  were  executed.  In  the  end  a  plan  was 
adopted  by  which  one  French  officer  was  at- 
tached to  each  Roumanian  regiment.    Their 


TRYING  TO  HELP  RUSSIA     123 

own  officer  had  no  value  of  any  kind,  only  to 
paint  his  lips  and  powder  his  face.  I  will 
venture  to  say  some  of  them  go  so  far  as  to 
carry  matches  almost  like  men.  They  never 
go  near  the  trenches.  The  Germans  said 
that  when  they  wanted  a  Roumanian  officer 
prisoner  they  put  up  a  barber's  sign  and  he 
walked  right  into  their  trenches.  There  was 
no  fighting  on  this  front.  You  could  go  out 
and  walk  around  the  trenches  and  no  one 
would  molest  you. 

I  was  a  witness  here  of  what  is  probably 
the  most  terrible  railroad  accident  ever 
known.  It  happened  on  the  Barlade  &  Ga- 
lata  Railroad.  A  long  train  of  about  sixty 
coaches  ran  into  another  train,  a  freight, 
under  suspicious  circumstances.  More  than 
1,000  persons  were  killed  and  700  injured 
in  the  accident  and  the  fire  which  followed. 
The  engineer  was  an  Austrian.  He  escaped 
and  has  never  been  caught  so  far  as  I  know. 

There  was  but  one  relieving  thing  about 
all  this  horror  in  Roumania.  I  met  up  with 
many  of  my  old  French  friends  here  who  had 


124  "EN  L'AIRr 

come  over  from  Salonika  or  Russia  before 
I  arrived.  I  was  presented  to  King  Ferdi- 
nand, Queen  Mary  and  Crown  Prince  Carol. 
They  had  eighty-six  servants  in  the  royal 
palace,  and  about  fifty  per  cent,  of  these  were 
Germans.  They  were  well  fed  when  the 
army  was  starving.  I  have  seen  their  sol- 
diers so  weak  that  they  could  not  walk  for 
want  of  food.  I  gave  them  money,  that  was 
all  I  could  do.    The  people  would  say : 

"Look  at  our  soldiers;  no  clothing,  no 
food,  no  shoes,  yet  they  never  complain !" 

There  was  a  good  reason ;  no  one  to  listen 
to  their  complaints,  so  they  did  the  best  they 
could. 

I  also  brought  down  a  Boche  here  near 
(ralatz  on  the  river  Danube,  for  which  I  re- 
ceived two  decorations,  that  of  St.  Stanislaus 
and  the  Yertu  Militaire. 


CHAPTER  XIII 

BOMBING   THE    KAISER   AT   SOFIA 

"Who  would  like  to  go  to  Sofia  on  a 
Bombing  raid*?" 

The  question  came  to  us  one  morning, 
about  the  time  that  I  had  decided  to  get  back 
to  Petrograd.  But  I  thought,  why  not  get  a 
glimpse  of  Bulgaria,  just  to  add  to  my  col- 
lection of  Balkan  impressions — about  as  un- 
like each  other,  and  of  as  many  colors,  as  a 
boy's  sack  of  marbles.  So  I  decided  on  the 
little  jaunt  to  Sofia  right  then.  Also,  I  was 
anxious  to  learn  flying  conditions  in  the  Bal- 
kans, to  see  if  they  were  anything  like  those 
to  the  north,  or  what  I  had  experienced  on 
the  Western  front. 

A  big  percentage  of  the  Balkan  country  is 
very  rough  and  mountainous.  Furthermore, 
it  is  not  very  agreeable  to  fly  over  because 

125 


126  "EN  HAIR!" 

there  are  no  landing  fields.  In  case  of  motor 
trouble  many  people  are  under  the  impres- 
sion that  in  rough  countries  there  are  air 
pockets  and  bad  currents  of  air:  There  are 
to  a  certain  extent,  but  with  the  modern  aero- 
plane there  is  absolutely  no  danger. 

The  worst  air  disturbances  in  the  Balkans, 
I  found,  are  caused  by  heat  waves  on  the 
very  warm  days.  Up  to  5,000  feet  you  are 
shaken  up  pretty  badly,  but  in  this  rough 
country  to  find  a  place  to  land  is  difficult. 
There  is  not  very  much  risk  if  you  know  how 
to  do  it.  You  may  land  on  a  tree  and  still 
do  not  hurt  yourself.  Maybe  a  few  bones 
are  broken,  but  not  anything  serious.  But, 
if  you  don't  know  how,  it  may  prove  more 
serious,  although  our  motors  seldom  fail  us. 
There  is  no  good  in  worrying.  I  have  landed 
once  off  the  aerodrome  from  motor  troubles 
in  three  years. 

In  Roumania  we  had  our  field  at  Galatz, 
a  town  of  about  40,000  population,  on  the 
Danube.  The  nearest  point  to  the  German 
lines  was  then  about  five  miles.    It  was  con- 


BOMBING  THE  KAISER       127 

tinually  being  bombarded.  There  is  not 
much  left  of  it  now.  Just  opposite  is  Braila, 
a  great  grain-handling  point.  At  Constanza 
and  Braila,  the  Germans  captured  about 
twenty  million  bushels  of  wheat.  We  used 
to  drop  bombs  on  Braila  daily,  doing  consid- 
erable damage,  and  I  had  already  gone  on 
some  long  reconnoitering  trips.  From  here 
we  used  to  follow  the  Bucharest  line  of  the 
railroad  to  see  what  activity  was  going  on. 

It  was  beautiful  country  from  the  air. 
The  Danube  could  be  seen  from  the  air  for 
miles,  but  this  Blue  Danube  stuff  is  all  bunk. 
The  river  is  as  muddy  as  the  Mississippi. 
There  was  a  continuous  patrol  of  armed  tugs 
on  the  Danube,  and  quite  a  bit  of  shelling 
was  done  by  these  boats. 

One  morning  (the  date  was  Feb.  3d), 
news  came  from  Sofia  that  stirred  up  things 
in  our  camp  and  on  the  whole  front  near  us. 
We  learned  that  at  Sofia  there  was  being 
held  a  council  of  war  attended  by  the  Kaiser, 
Emperor  of  Austria,  King  of  Bulgaria  and 
the  Sultan.  We  wanted  to  pay  our  respects 
to  them  with  a  few  bombs,  and  we  did ! 


128  "EN  LAIR!" 

Our  route,  of  course,  lay  through  Rou- 
mania,  over  Bukharest  and  so  to  Sofia.  The 
morning  was  very  cloudy.  There  were  two 
of  us  for  the  trip.  We  left  our  field  at  Ga- 
latz.  At  7  o'clock  we  ran  into  the  clouds. 
At  about  6,000  feet  they  were  very  heavy 
and  thick,  from  300  to  1,000  feet.  We 
climbed  through  them  and  came  out  into  the 
bright  morning  sunlight.  It  was  a  beauti- 
ful sight.  This  sea  of  clouds  and  the  morn- 
ing sunlight  on  them  was  an  artist's  dream 
for  color  and  softness.  We  headed  towards 
Bukharest,  traveling  by  compass  only.  We 
got  the  direction  of  the  wind,  to  see  if  it  was 
a  cross  wind  and  figure  our  drift — a  strong 
cross  wind  will  carry  you  quite  a  ways  in  a 
100-mile  trip.  We  had  a  wind  about  1-4 
N.W.  so  we  didn't  have  much  lift  to  worry 
about.  It  was  impossible  to  see  the  earth. 
Our  compass  was  all  we  could  see. 

We  continued  until  we  figured  we  were 
near  Bukharest.  Then  we  came  down 
through  the  clouds  to  look  around  and  get 
our  bearings.    As  soon  as  we  came  out  in  the 


BOMBING  THE  KAISER       1 29 

clear,  below  the  clouds,  we  saw  Bukharest 
about  five  miles  ahead,  and  to  the  left  of  us. 
We  had  a  look  at  Bukharest,  then  headed 
toward  Nilkopo  and  Sofia.  Always  over  the 
clouds  at  about  6,000  feet  altitude.  If  it 
had  not  been  for  the  clouds  we  would  have 
been  up  15,000  feet,  but  it  was  not  neces- 
sary, as  we  could  not  be  seen  from  below 
and  there  was  no  danger  from  guns. 

We  passed  over  one  or  two  clear  spots  only 
a  few  hundred  feet  across.  After  we  had 
gone  along  for  about  fifty  minutes  we  came 
through  the  clouds  again  for  the  second  town 
on  our  route.  When  we  came  out  from 
under  the  clouds  it  was  raining  torrents  and 
very  difficult  for  us  to  see  the  earth  at  all. 
The  rain  was  very  disagreeable.  It  cut  our 
faces  at  the  rate  of  speed  we  traveled,  so  we 
did  not  see  our  town.  We  climbed  back 
above  the  clouds  again  and  continued  to- 
ward Sofia  under  the  same  conditions,  al- 
ways cloudy. 

At  last  we  were  due  at  Sofia,  according  to 
our  watches,  and  the  average  speed  we  were 


130  "EN  LAIR!" 

making,  about  120  miles  per  hour.  We 
slowed  our  meters  and  came  through  the 
clouds  to  see  if  we  could  get  our  bearings 
from  the  earth  and  our  maps.  When  we 
came  out  of  the  clouds  we  were  just  over  the 
suburbs  of  Sofia.  I  think  that  was  one  of 
the  best  guesses  I  ever  made.  Not  altogether 
a  guess,  of  course.  Our  instruments  are  very 
accurate,  but  one's  speed  never  is  the  same. 
You  must  judge  for  yourself,  as  there  is  no 
accurate  speed  meter  for  an  aeroplane.  We 
headed  for  the  center  of  the  city,  to  locate 
the  palace  of  King  Ferdinand  and  the  Par- 
liament building.  We  had  a  plan  of  the 
city,  so  it  did  not  take  us  long  to  find  them. 

Sofia  is  very  interesting  from  the  air;  the 
way  it  is  laid  out  is  very  peculiar.  It  is  in  the 
shape  of  a  triangle,  all  streets  terminating 
in  an  immense  circle  in  the  center,  where  all 
the  Government  buildings  are  located.  I 
chose  the  palace  of  the  King;  my  comrade 
the  House  of  Parliament.  We  got  directly 
over  them  and  came  down  in  spirals. 

I  dropped  my  first  bomb  from  about  3,000 


BOMBING  THE  KAISER       131 

feet.  It  struck  the  corner  of  the  palace.  I 
saw  it  explode,  the  smoke  and  dust  flying  up. 
I  could  see  people  running  in  all  directions. 
My  second  one  was  a  miss.  It  exploded  in 
the  court-yard  about  fifty  feet  from  the  pal- 
ace. The  third  and  last  was  a  good  hit  on 
the  top  of  the  building.  Whether  or  not  it 
went  through,  I  will  not  know  until  after  the 
war.  I  hope  it  did !  My  comrade  made  good 
hits  also.  We  saw  the  people  picking  up 
wounded  and  dead.  We  turned  around,  in 
about  five  minutes,  and  gave  them  an  exhi- 
bition. If  I  had  only  had  a  machine  gun  I 
would  have  rid  the  world  of  some  more  scum. 
But  we  did  not  carry  our  guns,  so  as  to  be 
able  to  carry  three  bombs,  otherwise  we 
would  only  have  been  able  to  carry  two. 

They  fired  at  us  from  below  with  rifles  and 
machine  guns,  but  we  should  worry  about 
that! 

After  we  got  our  results  well  summed  up, 
we  climbed  and  started  back  toward  Nil- 
kopo,  Bukharest,  and  home. 

As  we  got  near  the  Roumanian  frontier 


132  "EN  LAIR!" 

the  weather  began  to  clear  and  we  could  see 
the  earth  through  the  holes  in  the  clouds. 
Before  passing  Bukharest  it  was  clear.  We 
climbed  to  about  4,000  feet  and  continued 
on  our  way.  It  was  not  long  before  we  could 
see  the  Danube  in  the  distance  and  as  it 
loomed  near  we  felt  much  relief,  as  to  be  cap- 
tured in  the  Balkans  means  death.  Our  mo- 
tors purred  along  and  carried  us  safely  back 
to  our  starting  point.  We  only  saw  one  en- 
emy airplane  that  had  been  sent  out  to  meet 
us.  He  was  too  low  and  did  not  cause  us 
any  trouble.  We  were  unarmed  so  could  not 
put  up  a  fight.  In  case  we  were  attacked  our 
only  defence  would  have  been  our  skill  and 
wits.    They  often  answer  the  purpose. 

We  came  down  and  landed  at  Galatz,  on 
our  field. 

My  comrade  and  I  were  congratulated  by 
our  superior  officers  and  also  by  King  Fer- 
dinand of  Roumania.  We  were  very  tired 
and  hungry — the  strain  on  a  man  is  some- 
thing beyond  imagination.  After  a  great 
lunch  and  a  siesta  we  felt  much  better. 


BOMBING  THE  KAISER       133 

The  route  we  had  taken  was  as  follows: 
Galatz  following  the  railroad  line  to  Braila, 
Bukharest,  Nilkopo,  and  on  to  Sofia.  The 
distance  was  540  miles  for  the  round  trip. 
We  made  it  in  four  hours  and  twenty  min- 
utes. After  returning  to  Galatz  we  learned 
a  few  of  the  details  but  not  much.  In  the 
bombing  of  the  Parliament  building  one 
deputy  had  been  killed  and  several  notables 
wounded.  The  King's  palace  was  badly 
damaged  and  some  excitement  was  caused. 
We  do  not  want  to  kill  women  and  children 
as  the  Germans  are  doing  in  France  and 
England.  We  want  to  clear  them  up  fair 
and  square  and  we  will ! 

Now  that  the  raid  was  over  we  had  two 
days'  leave.  So  we  went  to  Jassy  to  see 
some  pretty  girls.  We  had  a  nice  holiday 
and  came  back  thoroughly  contented  and 
happy,  and  ready  for  another  exploit. 


CHAPTER  XIV 

THE    REVOLUTION    AS    I    SAW    IT 

When  I  got  back  into  Russia  again  and 
was  traveling  toward  Petrograd,  during  the 
first  days  of  March,  I  heard  some  talk  of  a 
revolution.  The  early  rumors  were  mostly 
to  the  effect  that  the  Church  would  not  give 
the  consent,  but  I  was  told  that  on  the  10th 
the  dignitaries  sent  out  word  to  the  people 
that  God  no  longer  loved  the  Czar.  There 
were  all  kinds  of  proclamations,  and  on  the 
12th  Nicholas  signed  his  abdication  of  the 
throne.  Then  came  the  real  revolution  and 
with  it  more  proclamations.  There  were 
proclamations  plastered  around  everywhere 
until  you  couldn't  see  the  walls,  they  were  so 
thick. 

One  of  them  was  directed  to  the  army  and 
told  the  men  that  they  were  free,  that  they 

!34 


W 

u 

o 

Pk 

< 

w 
Z 

fa 


THE  REVOLUTION  AS  I  SAW  IT    135 

were  not  required  to  salute  their  officers  be- 
cause they  were  only  men  like  themselves. 
The  discipline  in  the  Russian  army  had  been 
very  severe,  and  you  can  imagine  what  fol- 
lowed. The  majority  of  the  officers  be- 
longed to  the  aristocracy  and  of  course  they 
resented  this.  Most  of  them  were  murdered 
and  the  rest  disarmed;  a  great  many  es- 
caped. The  soldiers  then  proceeded  to  elect 
their  own  officers.  Any  one  who  was  a  popu- 
lar man  in  his  company  was  elected  as  an  of- 
ficer. 

Nearly  all  the  Russian  soldiers  with 
whom  I  talked  wanted  the  Grand  Duke 
Nicholas  for  Czar.  When  they  were  told 
that  there  were  no  more  grand  dukes  the  sol- 
diers said: 

"Why,  we  didn't  want  him  taken  away. 
He  was  our  friend." 

As  nearly  as  I  could  make  out,  about  fifty 
per  cent,  of  the  soldiers  went  back  to  their 
homes.  They  believed  that  the  revolution 
made  them  free  to  do  anything  they  liked. 
There  was  virtually  a  verbal  armistice  by  the 


136  "EN  L'AIR!" 

troops  that  remained.  The  Germans  gave 
the  Russians  plenty  to  drink.  Often  they 
would  dance  together  and  have  a  great  time, 
saying  that  there  was  going  to  be  no  more 
war. 

"We  are  all  rich  now;  we  don't  have  to 
work  any  more,"  was  the  Russian  belief. 

The  poor  officers  fared  pretty  badly,  I  can 
tell  you.  I  saw  them  killed  in  cold  blood  by 
their  troops.  One,  a  general  in  Bessarahin, 
was  hanged.  He  had  gone  into  a  railroad 
station  to  get  something  to  eat.  Some  sol- 
diers were  making  remarks  which  he  re- 
sented. He  then  sent  for  an  armed  guard 
to  arrest  the  men,  but  when  the  guard  came 
they  arrested  the  general  instead.  They  took 
him  out  of  the  station  and  a  crowd  gathered 
round.    Somebody  said : 

"What  will  we  do  with  him?" 

Then  someone  suggested,  "Hang  him." 
And  they  did. 

This  was  absolutely  uncalled-for,  as  he 
was  a  good  man,  was  one  of  the  few  artillery 
experts  in  Russia. 


THE  REVOLUTION  AS  I  SAW  IT    137 

In  Petrograd  things  were  just  as  bad.  A 
friend  of  mine,  a  lady  living  at  the  Hotel  du 
Nord,  had  an  experience  which  is  typical  of 
the  condition  of  the  city  at  that  time.  The 
Hotel  du  Nord  is  just  in  front  of  the  Nich- 
olas station.  She  was  awakened  one  morn- 
ing by  firing  in  the  street  and  the  station. 
She  looked  out  to  see  what  was  the  trouble, 
just  in  time  to  get  the  end  of  her  nose  shot 
off  by  a  passing  bullet.  That  is  a  good  ex- 
ample of  Russian  marksmanship.  When 
they  are  shooting  at  you,  you  are  safe.  But 
if  they  are  shooting  at  something  else,  you 
had  better  hide. 

You  can  guess  what  went  on  in  a  city  of 
3,000,000  population  during  a  time  like  that, 
with  no  law  and  order.  All  the  convicts 
were  liberated,  but  some  of  them  went  back 
to  the  prison  for  protection.  The  people 
were  taking  everything  they  could  get  their 
hands  on ;  most  all  the  stores  were  closed.  It 
was  very  difficult  to  get  anything  to  eat  and 
rubles  were  like  pennies.  Everyone  was  ar- 
rested about  twice  daily.  But,  with  a  few 
rubles,  you  were  safe. 


138  "EN  LAIR!" 

It  was  even  more  tragic  and  amusing  to 
see  the  way  in  which  the  Navy  carried  on  its 
revolution.  They  were  worse  than  the 
Army.  The  Baltic  fleet  was  frozen  in,  so 
the  sailors  chopped  holes  in  the  ice  and 
pushed  their  officers  underneath.  They  said 
that  by  doing  this  they  did  not  murder  their 
officers,  they  only  pushed  them  under.  If 
they  couldn't  get  out,  it  was  not  their  fault, 
so  they  had  clear  consciences.  The  men  also 
elected  their  officers.  One  day  two  greasy 
sailors  walked  into  the  bureau  of  the  Navy 
at  Petrograd  and  said : 

"We  are  the  commanders  of  the  Baltic 
fleet." 

The  secretary  thought  that  this  was  a  bad 
proposition,  but  he  said : 

"Well,  you  men  are  very  important,  so 
we'll  have  to  keep  you  here  to  be  delegates 
in  the  Workingmen's  and  Soldiers'  Senate." 

I  heard  afterwards  that  some  old  reserve 
officers  had  to  take  command,  men  who  had 
not  been  on  a  ship  in  twenty  years. 

Among  the  many  changes  in  the  Russian 


THE  REVOLUTION  AS  I  SAW  IT    139 

army  brought  about  by  the  revolution  is  the 
giving  of  commissions  to  Jews.  Before  it 
there  were  no  Jewish  officers  allowed  in  the 
army.  Now  they  may  have  fifty  per  cent. 
This  does  not  please  the  Russians. 

I  talked  with  many  soldiers  and  every  one 
of  them  had  just  one  idea — he  wanted  to 
live  in  the  Royal  Palace.  They  told  me  that 
it  was  their  right. 

"The  palaces  belong  to  us  now;  why  can't 
we  live  in  them*?" 

You  could  buy  almost  any  sort  of  army 
equipment  you  wanted  on  the  streets  of 
Petrograd.  The  soldiers  were  joyously  sell- 
ing everything  that  had  been  issued  to  them. 
If  you  wanted  a  motorcycle  you  could  get  it 
from  a  former  army  motorcyclist  for  200  ru- 
bles. Why,  you  could  even  buy  a  cannon 
if  you  wanted  it.    The  soldiers  said : 

"It  all  belongs  to  us  now,  after  the  revo- 
lution. We  don't  want  to  fight  any  more. 
Now  we  are  going  to  enjoy  our  wealth  so 
we  don't  want  to  fight  any  more  and  risk  be- 
ing killed." 


140  "EN  L'AIRr 

These  were  almost  unbelievable  days  in 
Petrograd.  It  was  like  boom  times  in  a 
Western  mining  town  in  the  United  States. 
There  was  absolutely  no  standard  of  prices, 
everybody  seemed  bent  on  charging  just  a 
little  more  than  anybody  else.  I  paid  $10 
for  a  dinner  in  Petrograd  just  before  I  left, 
that  would  cost  sixty  cents  in  New  York. 
However,  no  one  seemed  to  mind  it;  every 
one  was  rich.  I  never  saw  the  equal,  it 
seemed  more  like  a  gold  strike  than  a  war. 

When  I  came  to  try  to  get  away  from 
Petrograd  my  real  troubles  began.  The  rail- 
roads were  disorganized  completely,  abso- 
lutely no  system.  It  took  seven  days  to  go 
seven  hundred  miles  on  a  passenger  train, 
and  three  months  to  get  a  goods  train  from 
Vladivostok  to  Petrograd.  At  first  I  de- 
cided to  return  by  the  same  route  I  had  come, 
going  to  Sweden,  Christiania,  Bergen  and  on 
to  London.  So,  on  the  first  day  of  May,  I 
left  Petrograd.  I  was  able  to  get  as  far  as 
Christiania,  where  I  waited  in  vain  for  a 
boat.    No  one  gave  me  any  hope  of  getting 


THE  REVOLUTION  AS  I  SAW  IT    141 

to  London,  so  I  retraced  my  steps  and  re- 
turned to  Petrograd.  I  was  forced  to  make 
my  homeward  journey  in  the  other  direction, 
through  Siberia,  Manchuria,  and  Japan  to 
San  Francisco. 

Never  again  for  me  in  Russia ! 


CHAPTER  XV 


MY    PALS 


Many  of  the  things  which  I  am  going  to 
tell  about  my  pals  in  the  Foreign  Legion  and 
the  Lafayette  Escadrille  happened  after  we 
broke  up  and  got  scattered,  but  no  matter. 
This  book  would  not  be  complete  without 
some  account  of  them.  We  were  together 
more  or  less  until  the  Boche  got  one  after  an- 
other of  the  bunch.  A  few  of  us  are  still  here 
to  get  back  at  him.  We  were  proud  of  being 
Americans,  and  that  is  why  I  want  to  tell 
the  records  of  these  men,  the  things  which  I 
saw  and  know  about  them.  Much  of  it  is  not 
known  on  this  side. 

Charles  Sweeney,  one  of  my  most  loyal 
friends,  was  a  brave  and  excellent  soldier; 
he  was  very  severely  wounded  during  the 
offensive  in  Champagne  in  1915.    He  won 

142 


MY.  PALS  143 

the  rank  of  Captain,  has  been  decorated  with 
the  Legion  d'Honneur  and  the  Croix  de 
Guerre,  twice  mentioned  in  the  orders  of  the 
entire  army.  He  was  recently  transferred 
into  the  U.  S.  Army  with  the  rank  of  Major- 
I  think  he  should  have  been  made  a  Briga- 
dier-General as  he  is  far  in  advance  of  many 
American  officers  in  the  science  of  modern 
warfare. 

I  don't  think  you  could  find  a  bigger- 
hearted  man  than  Rene  Philezot.  He  told 
me  that  he  would  leave  his  bones  on  the  field 
of  battle,  and  he  did.  Christmas  day,  1914, 
Rene  sent  $400  from  the  trenches  to  the  Bel- 
gians when  many  a  millionaire  living  in  a 
palace  only  gave  a  five-spot,  and  few  did 
that.  It's  the  difference  in  men,  and  the  best 
are  never  known  until  it's  too  late. 

Jimmy  Bach  was  the  son  of  a  millionaire, 
but  that  didn't  seem  to  hurt  him  any. 
Jimmy  was  one  of  the  best.  Absolutely 
fearless,  a  friend  indeed.  Jimmy  was  taken 
prisoner  in  the  aviation  in  September,  1915, 
while  performing  a  special  mission,  that  of 


144  "EN  L'AIR!" 

landing  spies  in  the  German  lines.  He  had 
gone  back  to  get  a  comrade  who  had  met 
with  an  accident.  Jimmy  broke  his  propel- 
ler by  striking  a  stump,  was  made  prisoner 
and  tried  three  times  by  a  court-martial.  He 
had  one  of  the  best  attorneys  in  Berlin  to 
defend  him  and  was  acquitted  of  being  an 
accomplice  of  a  spy,  otherwise  he  would  have 
been  shot.  I  missed  him  very  much,  and  I 
got  revenge  for  him  later  on  I  am  glad  to 
say. 

Stewart  Carstairs,  a  slender,  refined  boy, 
was  one  of  the  gamest  I  ever  knew.  He  was 
a  very  well-known  artist.  How  he  was  able 
to  resist  hardship  so  wonderfully  I  never 
understood,  for  he  suffered  exceedingly  from 
neuralgia.  I  have  seen  his  face  swollen 
twice  its  normal  size,  but  never  a  complaint. 
He  was  one  of  our  mysterious  kind  who  al- 
ways had  cigarettes.  I  don't  know  how  he 
got  them,  but  I  assure  you  that  any  one  with 
cigarettes  was  popular,  especially  with  me. 
Stewart  was  forced  to  leave  in  February, 
1915,  on  account  of  his  health,  but  I  admired 
him  for  holding  out  as  long  as  he  did. 


K  jj 


c 


MY  PALS  145 

Bill  Thaw  has  been  wounded  in  the  el- 
bow, but  he  is  there  yet  flying  every  day  with 
his  left  arm  that  cannot  be  straightened  out. 
Only  a  few  do  those  things,  most  of  them 
would  go  home,  and  pose  as  a  hero.  Bill  is 
my  best  friend,  for  I  know  what  is  in  him. 
He  ranks  now  as  a  lieutenant,  has  the  Legion 
d'Honneur,  Croix  de  Guerre,  five  citations 
in  the  Army  orders  and  the  last  I  heard  he 
had  brought  down  his  eighth  Boche.  I  don't 
think  many  people  know  how  Bill  Thaw  got 
his  wound.  It  happened  this  way.  One 
day  Thaw,  Rockwell  and  myself  were  to- 
gether over  near  Fort  de  Vaux  when  I  at- 
tacked a  German.  As  I  did  so,  two  other 
Germans  came  after  me.  Thaw  came  to  my 
aid,  and  he  was  hit  by  a  German  some  three 
hundred  yards  away  and  below  him.  The 
shot  took  him  in  the  left  elbow.  He  went 
down  and  I  got  out  of  my  difficulty  and 
watched  him.  He  landed  in  the  second-line 
trenches,  but  did  not  break  his  machine.  In 
landing  the  machine  tore  down  all  the  tele- 
phone lines  to  the  trenches  in  that  sector. 


146  "EN  L'AIR!" 

He  did  not  know  whether  he  was  in  our  lines 
or  in  the  German  lines.  But  as  the  soldiers 
came  up  he  felt  much  better  when  he  saw 
they  were  French.  Balsy  also,  in  his  experi- 
ence, did  not  know  where  he  was.  When 
hit  in  the  stomach  by  an  explosive  bullet  he 
said  it  was  a  terrible  sensation  and,  as  he 
came  to,  he  righted  his  machine  and  kept  say- 
ing to  himself: 

"Keep  your  head,  boy,  keep  your  head." 

It  was  only  by  superhuman  effort  he 
landed.  It  was  some  bad  ground  and  he 
wrecked  his  machine.  He  was  soon  picked 
up  and  taken  to  a  field  hospital  where  he 
was  in  a  state  of  coma  for  four  days,  but 
owing  to  his  good  state  of  health  he  was 
saved. 

James  W.  Ganson,  who  was  a  game  sport, 
was  forty-six  years  old  when  he  enlisted. 
He  hung  on  for  a  year,  when,  owing  to  ill 
health  he  had  to  give  up.  He  tried  to  get 
transferred  into  the  artillery,  but  was  un- 
successful, so  he  went  home. 

Wilson  was  quite  a  diplomat.    He  didn't 


MY,  PALS  147 

believe  in  work,  and  said  he  was  a  doctor, 
so  Dr.  Wilson  he  was.  He  was  our  chief 
chemist. 

David  King,  a  man  of  a  well-known  fam- 
ily and  a  fine  chap,  spent  about  two  years  in 
the  trenches.  He  was  wounded  and  badly 
gassed  and  has  almost  lost  his  sight.  He  was 
transferred  to  the  artillery  and  is  there  yet. 

J.  J.  Casey,  an  artist  of  note,  and  game, 
has  been  continually  in  the  midst  of  it  all. 
Casey  has  been  wounded  twice  and  is  there 
now,  looking  for  more. 

E.  Towle,  of  Tuxedo,  was  a  game  boy — 
only  eighteen.  He  spent  some  months  in 
the  trenches,  later  got  his  release  and  came 
home. 

ChatkorT,  a  wild  and  woolly  chap,  spent  a 
number  of  months  in  the  trenches,  was  trans- 
ferred into  the  aviation  and  had  some  sport 
learning  to  fly.  He  had  numerous  accidents 
and  finally  asked  to  be  sent  to  the  trenches 
to  rest  his  nerves.  He  came  back  a  little 
later  to  fly  and  landed  on  a  house-top,  which 
ended  his  career  as  an  aviator.    Chatkoff  has 


148  "EN  L'AIRr 

gone  back  to  the  trenches,  saying  that  he  is 
a  better  bayonet  pilot. 

Paul  Rockwell,  good  old  southern  boy, 
came  over  to  get  revenge  on  the  Germans, 
was  badly  wounded  in  May,  1915,  and  was 
released.  Paul  is  now  married  to  a  beauti- 
ful French  girl,  Miss  Legg,  and  I  hope  Paul 
is  as  good  a  husband  as  he  was  soldier. 

One  of  the  best  of  them  all  was  poor  Kif- 
fin Rockwell,  brother  of  Paul,  one  of  the 
cleanest,  squarest  men  I  ever  knew.  Kiffin 
didn't  know  the  meaning  of  fear.  I  think 
he  had  as  many  combats  in  the  air  as  any  man 
in  the  French  aviation.  He  was  credited 
with  three  Boches,  but  I  am  sure  he  brought 
down  more,  no  less  than  six.  He  and  I  were 
not  very  popular  with  our  captain,  as  we  told 
him  and  everyone  else  what  we  thought. 
Kiffin  lost  his  life  in  a  combat  near  the  spot 
where  he  brought  down  his  first  German. 
He  wore  the  Medaille  Militaire,  the  Croix 
de  Guerre,  and  had  the  rank  of  Sub-Lieuten- 
ant. I  still  miss  him  and  always  will,  and  I 
have  not  yet  finished  revenging  Kiffin' s  loss. 


MY  PALS  149 

He  was  so  skinny,  I  used  to  call  him  the  Liv- 
ing Hall  Tree.  We  used  to  tell  Kiffin  that 
if  he  could  keep  side  on  to  a  German  it 
would  be  impossible  to  hit  him.  He  was  a 
good  poker  player,  a  game  at  which  we  spent 
many  pleasant  evenings. 

F.  W.  Zinn  seemed  like  the  laziest  boy 
in  the  world,  not  lazy  exactly  but  always 
tired,  and  one  of  the  worst  book-worms  I 
ever  saw.  No  matter  where  he  was  he  always 
had  a  book  of  some  sort.  He  tried  flying  but 
did  not  make  a  success.  Later  he  developed 
into  one  of  the  best  men  in  the  photographic 
service  in  France. 

Bob  Soubirain,  who  spent  eighteen  months 
in  the  trenches,  is  now  one  of  the  good  flyers 
in  the  aviation  corps.  He  deserves  the  best 
of  luck. 

George  Casmeze  had  the  bad  luck  to  be 
taken  ill.  He  was  the  originator  of  the 
American  Volunteer  Corps,  but  had  to  be 
left  behind. 

Edgar  J.  Bouligny  was  the  best  specimen 
of  a  man  I  have  ever  seen.    He  was  wounded 


150  "EN  UAIR!" 

several  times  but  is  still  in  the  game.  He 
was  too  heavy  for  the  aviation,  but  he  would 
have  made  a  dandy  fighter. 

Bob  Scanlon,  was  a  negro  prize  fighter. 
He  said  he  liked  to  fight  but  preferred  to 
pick  his  own  ground.  I  don't  know  what 
became  of  him. 

Dennis  Dowd,  a  New  York  lawyer,  spent 
eighteen  months  in  the  trenches,  and  then 
transferred  to  the  Flying  Corps.  Dowd  was 
killed  last  fall  in  an  accident  in  his  School. 

George  Del  Peuch  was  a  good  fighter  and 
very  brave.  I  think  he  was  killed  at  the 
Battle  of  the  Somme,  and  I  wager  he  died 
game.    He  was  that  kind. 

F.  Morlae,  who  was  a  reckless  fellow  but 
a  fine  soldier,  went  through  the  Battles  of 
the  Somme  and  Champagne.  He  came  home 
to  Los  Angeles  and  died  there  from  the  shock 
of  what  he  had  been  through. 

F.  Capdevielle  is  still  in  France,  wounded 
twice.  He  wears  the  Croix  de  Guerre. 
Charles  Trinkard  is  also  at  the  front  yet. 

F.  Landreaux  spent  a  year  or  more  there, 


MY  PALS  151 

and  has  since  been  released.  He  was  one  of 
our  best  entertainers,  and  was  well  known 
as  an  artist  in  France.  He  was  always  in 
poor  health,  but  game,  and  I  admired  him 
very  much. 

Allen  Segar,  whose  war  poems  are  the  best 
ever  written,  was  a  brave  and  fearless  boy. 
His  talent  was  unknown  and  undeveloped 
then.  I  understand  a  monument  is  to  be 
erected  to  his  memory  in  Paris.  He  was 
killed  at  the  Battle  of  the  Somme,  as  were 
some  of  the  boys  who  came  on  later. 

Norman  Prince  was  one  of  the  kind  who 
wants  to  see  others  do  well  and  get  along. 
He  looked  after  every  one  but  himself.  He 
was  the  founder  of  the  American  Escadrille, 
and  spent  all  his  time  making  it  go  and  fi- 
nally did  so.  I  liked  Norman  very  much. 
He  was  a  big  loss  to  all  of  us  as  he  was  the 
one  that  furnished  the  pep  for  the  outfit. 

James  McConnell  was  not  only  a  fine  boy, 
but  a  talented  writer.  I  used  to  call  him 
McScandal.  I  was  sorry  to  hear  of  his  death, 
for  I  think  he  would  have  written  some  very 


152  "EN  LAIR!" 

interesting  stories  on  the  war.  I  remember 
our  first  trip  over  the  lines.  He  was  lost  and 
followed  me  all  the  time.  He  said  I  didn't 
know  whether  we  were  going  to  Berlin  or 
Paris. 

Charles  Beaumont  changed  regiments  and 
I  don't  know  what  has  become  of  him.  E. 
H.  Towle  was  taken  ill  and  had  to  be  left  be- 
hind, poor  fellow.  He  afterwards  came 
back  home. 

Victor  Chapman,  the  man  of  all  men,  was 
one  of  our  bravest,  and  one  of  the  best 
friends  I  ever  had.  A  lover  of  art  and  of 
life,  he  was  good  in  every  way.  He  did  three 
men's  work  daily  and  very  rarely  came  in 
without  a  few  bullet  holes  in  his  machine. 
He  brought  down  at  the  least  six  Germans. 
He  attacked  them,  no  matter  how  many  there 
were  or  what  the  conditions.  He  gave  his 
life  for  humanity.  At  the  time  of  his  death 
he  was  carrying  a  deep  scalp  wound  caused 
by  a  bullet  ploughing  its  way  through  his 
scalp  just  above  the  right  ear.  An  ordinary 
man  would  have  been  in  the  hospital,  but 


MY,  PALS  153 

not  Victor.  He  was  fond  of  art  and  read- 
ing, and  with  the  latter  he  spent  much  of  his 
spare  time.  He  was  very  much  interested 
in  science,  also,  and  did  a  good  deal  of 
shooting  and  walking.  He  was  an  excep- 
tional conversationalist;  he  could  interest 
you  on  almost  any  subject.  Not  like  most  of 
the  boys,  he  was  very  settled  in  his  habits, 
was  never  excited  or  mad,  and  I  am  confident 
he  never  knew  what  fear  meant.  He  had 
spent  a  year  in  the  trenches  previous  to  en- 
tering the  flying  corps. 

Wouldn't  any  American  be  proud  to  have 
lived  and  fought  with  a  bunch  like  this ! 


THE  END 


Causes   and    Pretexts 
of  the  World  War 

By  ORESTE  FERRARA 

Professor  of  Public  Law  in  the  University  of  Havana 
A     SEARCHING    EXAMINATION    INTO    THE     PLAY    AND 
COUNTERPLAY     OF     EUROPEAN     POLITICS     FROM 
THE    FRANCO-PRUSSIAN    WAR    TO    THE    OUT- 
BURST   OF    THE    GREAT    WORLD    WAR 


The  author  dissects  and  analyzes  the  momentous 
phenomenon  we  are  witnessing  with  the  serenity 
of  an  anatomist.  He  separates  causes  from  pre- 
texts, and  ideals  from  interests,  studies  the  psy- 
chology of  the  various  races  concerned,  and  with 
clearness  and  simplicity  unites  the  links  of  the  long 
chain  of  events  whose  includible  finale  was  war. 
His  examination  of  this  supreme  struggle  of  Kultur 
against  Civilization,  of  Violence  against  Virtus, 
shows  there  is  only  one  door  open  to  Democracy, 
and  that  is  Victory. 

Contents: 
The  Inevitable  War  Antebellum  Public  Opinion 

The  Significance  of  1870  Efforts  of  the  Various  Gov- 

France  and  Russia  emments 

France  and  England  The  General  Conflict 

Russia  and  England  The   Violation   of  the   Neu- 

The  Triple  Alliance  trality  of  Luxemburg 

The    Mediterranean    Agree-      England  and  the  Violation  of 

ment  Belgium  Neutrality 

TheFranco-Japaneseandthe      The    Ultimatum    ^j    Eng. 

Russo  -  Japanese       Agree-  land>s  Declaration  of  War 

ments.  Turkey  and  the  Conflict 

The  Policy  of  Germany  and  Tj_  ,.    ■*   T     1T-T. 

the  "  Encerclement  »  J^  Neutrality 

Plans  Frustrated  ***$  s  Participation 

The    Various    Interests    En-  Belligerent  and  Neutral  Bal- 

countered.  kan  States     ,    „ 

Servia's  Aspirations  and  Aus-  Belligerent    and    Neutral    in 

tria's  Crime  Latin  America 

The  Violent -Method  and  Its  Spanish  Neutrality 

Result  Greece's  Double  Attitude 

Cloth,  $1.50  net.  Postpaid  $1.65 

NEW  LIBRARY,  Inc.,  542  Fifth  Ave.,  New  York 


UC  SOUTHERN  REGIONAL  LIBRARY  FACIUTY 


A     000  693  198     4 


